The European Commission has prepared an extensive list of hundreds of product items that Brussels is asking to be excluded from the 15-percent US import tariffs, Euractiv reports. The list includes popular groceries and alcohol (well-known European cheeses such as Roquefort and pecorino, wines, brandy, olive oil, pasta, and seafood), as well as high‑tech industrial goods including robots, semiconductor equipment, chemicals, and complex medical equipment (surgical tables, dental cements, diagnostic kits, etc).
The Commission stresses that the EU has already fully honored its commitments under the bilateral tariff agreement reached last summer in Scotland. Since July 1, Brussels has unilaterally lifted tariffs on hundreds of American industrial and agricultural products, and now the European side expects similar reciprocal steps from Washington. European officials say tariff relief would also benefit the United States, since many of the items on the list are needed for American reindustrialization and have no local equivalents.
Negotiations are taking place against a backdrop of rising trade tensions. Earlier, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose new restrictive tariffs against EU countries in response to the introduction of a European digital services tax, which affects the largest American tech corporations. European leaders hope to resolve the dispute diplomatically and avoid a new round of full‑scale trade war.