EU to present tariff exemption requests to top Trump officials
The European Commission is preparing to present a list of sectors it wants exempted from U.S. tariffs during a meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer next Monday, according to two EU diplomats.
The list — expected to include medical devices, wines, spirits and beers, and pasta — will be finalized Friday at the technical level by EU countries, one of the diplomats said, News.Az reports citing Politico.
These sensitive export sectors were not covered under the trade deal struck in July by U.S. President Donald Trump and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. The deal, poured into a joint statement the following month, exempted some items like aircraft and generic drugs but imposed a 15 percent tariff on most other European exports.
Lutnick and Greer are flying in to Brussels this week for their first visits of Trump’s second term. Their trip comes at a time when the fragile trade truce is under pressure from U.S. frustration over how quickly the EU’s cumbersome decision-making can finally enact von der Leyen’s pledge to slash tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods to zero.
Presenting a consolidated list on Monday would allow the EU to present a united front and avoid a potentially damaging outcome where individual countries break ranks and try to lobby for their own national interests. In one such possible case, the Italian pasta industry is reeling from punitive U.S. tariffs imposed in a dumping case.
Ministers would also touch upon broader concerns in the transatlantic relationship, such as economic security, industrial overcapacity, or China’s grip on the supply of critical minerals and rare earths, added the diplomats, who were granted anonymity to discuss the confidential deliberations.
EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič will raise EU concerns over the Trump administration’s broad application of steel tariffs when he meets Greer and Lutnick. This followed the Commerce Department’s inclusion of more than 400 products on a list of goods subject to the 50 percent tariff — which the EU feels goes against the spirit of the joint statement.
The European Commission declined to comment.
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