| At an earlier stage of this dispute in 2012, the EU made a request to the WTO to authorise the adoption of countermeasures against the estimated damage caused to Airbus by the U.S. support to Boeing. "Based on this request, it is however for a WTO appointed arbitrator to determine the exact appropriate level of countermeasures. The EU is taking steps towards requesting the arbitrator to resume its work," the European Commission said on Wednesday. The list published Wednesday serves as a benchmark as how the EU would retaliate against the U.S. subsidies to Boeing. "A final list, based on the products included in today's list, will be drawn up by the EU taking into account the arbitrator's decision in the near future," the European Commission said. The list published covers a range of items, that overall represent around 20 billion U.S. dollars of United States exports into the European Union, from aircraft to chemicals and notably agri-food products such as frozen fish, citrus fruits and ketchup. On the other side of the Atlantic, Washington is requesting to impose approximately 11 billion U.S. dollars in annual countermeasures in response to what it says are the damaging trade effects of the EU subsidies to Airbus. A WTO arbitrator is currently evaluating the U.S request. | 
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