Frankfurt/Brussels, 23 September 2025 – Thilo Brodtmann, VDMA’s Executive Director, comments on the conclusion of the EU trade negotiations with Indonesia:
"For the European mechanical and plant engineering industry the EU's Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Indonesia would be a milestone. It provides the opportunity to dismantle existing trade barriers and improve access to this future market."
"Only by reducing tariffs and trade barriers can market shares be regained—especially in an environment heavily dominated by Chinese manufacturers. Moreover, both parties are severely affected by US tariffs."
"We therefore call on the Council of the EU and the EU-Parliament to approve this trade agreement with Indonesia as soon as possible. Only then can our export-oriented member companies benefit from the advantages of such an agreement."
"We also demand that the EU-Commission consistently push forward with further free trade negotiations. We are thinking in particular of agreements with India, Thailand, and Malaysia."
Thilo Brodtmann, VDMA’s Executive Director
VDMA represents 3600 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and SMEs. The companies employ around 3 million people in the EU-27, more than 1.2 million of them in Germany alone. This makes mechanical and plant engineering the largest employer among the capital goods industries, both in the EU-27 and in Germany. In the European Union, it represents a turnover volume of an estimated 870 billion euros. Around 80 percent of the machinery sold in the EU comes from a manufacturing plant in the domestic market.
