Brussels is targeting American yachts, tobacco and orange juice for retaliatory tariffs after Donald Trump hit steel and aluminium exports with a 25 per cent tax.

Sweetcorn, rice, almonds, cranberries, iron, steel, aluminium, certain vehicles and clothes, including Harley Davidson motorcycles and Levi’s jeans, are on the EU hit list.

Non-alcoholic beer, door and window frames, kitchenware, poultry and sausages are also in the firing line.

Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, is expected to travel to Washington next week to discuss tariffs with Mr Trump in a move co-ordinated with the EU.

“Our aim is to negotiate our way out of this and get rid of tariffs. If we have to impose tariffs to get there, so be it,” an EU diplomat told The Telegraph.

“These tariffs are our first step on this path and hopefully also our last.”

Soybeans, which are used for animal feed, are a pointed inclusion on the list of US imports facing a 25 per cent tariff.

In 2017, the EU struck a deal with Mr Trump, who was then in his first term, to buy US soybeans in exchange for a pause in further tariffs.

Kentucky bourbon was not on the finalised list of countermeasures, after some member states moved to protect their lucrative drink exports.

Ireland, France and Italy successfully lobbied the European Commission to remove bourbon after Mr Trump warned he would retaliate with a 200 per cent tariff on all EU alcoholic drinks.

US dairy products were spared to protect Irish butter exports to the US, where Kerrygold is the second-largest butter brand.

The list was drawn up by European Commission officials, who handle trade on behalf of the bloc’s 27 member states.

The original list covered trade worth some €26 billion (£22.2 billion) which was equivalent to the trade flows affected by the US tariffs on steel and aluminium.

No ‘tit-for-tat’ tariffs

It was ultimately whittled down to a list worth about €21.9 billion (£18.7 billion) in trade every year after intergovernmental negotiations in Brussels.

“We are not in the business of tit-for-tat or penny for penny,” said Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s trade commissioner, before the finalised list was sent to governments.

EU governments will vote on the list on Wednesday, with the measures entering into force on April 15. Tariffs on some products will come into force later, with soybeans not being hit until December after farmers objected.

The Commission has been at pains to ensure the countermeasures are seen as “proportionate” and do not trigger a fresh wave of tit-for-tat tariffs.