Moscow, Apr 17 (Reporter) European Union (EU) trade negotiators hope that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s trip to Washington and her meeting with US President Donald Trump can shed light on the US tariffs demands, The Financial Times reported on Thursday. The bloc's negotiators reportedly complained that they had not been provided with US demands and are now hoping that Meloni’s trip will bring some clarity, the paper said. At the same time, Italy’s former ambassador to NATO, Stefano Stefanini, believes that Meloni "has an advantage on the EU mediators" as she is talking to "the decider," and is on good terms with Trump. Unnamed diplomats from four EU states told the paper that Italy’s soft stance on reciprocal tariffs is criticized by some member states, but pointed out that Meloni’s good relationship with Trump can be valuable. The Italian prime minister publicly supported Brussels’ offer to drop all tariffs on industrial goods if Washington does the same, however the diplomats briefed on the talks reportedly said that the US was not interested in reducing the tariffs and that the declared 10% tariff rate is likely to stay. Meloni and Trump are going to meet in Washington on Thursday. Earlier this week, Politico reported that the Italian prime minister would seek to achieve some concessions from Trump. However, if she fails it might undermine her authority in the EU. On April 2, Trump signed an executive order that implemented reciprocal tariffs on imports from various countries. The base tariff rate was established at 10%, with higher rates applied to 57 countries based on the US trade deficit with each specific nation. On April 9, Trump declared that a baseline tariff of 10% would be imposed for 90 days on over 75 countries that had not retaliated and had requested negotiations, except for China. As the trade war progressed, US tariffs on Chinese goods hit 145%, while China's tariffs on American imports reached 125%...////...