The United States asks the European Union to make unbalanced trade concessions, which may trigger European Union countermeasures

In US-EU trade talks, the US is demanding unilateral concessions from the European Union that European Union officials see as lopsided. If the terms of a potential deal do not improve, the European Union will make the difficult decision of whether to take countermeasures. The best-case scenario remains an agreement on principles that would allow negotiations to continue beyond an early July deadline, according to people familiar with the talks. Washington's demands fall into three categories. The first is measures related to fish export quotas, which European Union officials say may be inconsistent with WTO rules. The second is non-reciprocal tariff-related measures. The third is a series of economic security demands that European Union officials describe as far-fetched. Even if a deal is reached, many of Trump's tariffs will remain in place, people familiar with the matter said. The European Union, which has been seeking a mutually beneficial deal, will assess any end result and decide at that stage how much asymmetry, if any, it is willing to accept.