FRANKFURT, Germany, May 5, (AP): The Trump administration says the sweeping tariffs it unveiled April 2, then postponed for 90 days, have a simple goal: Force other countries to drop their trade barriers to US goods. Yet President Donald Trump’s definition of trade barriers includes a slew of issues well beyond the tariffs other countries impose on the US, including some areas not normally associated with trade disputes.

Those include agricultural safety requirements, tax systems, currency exchange rates, product standards, legal requirements, and red tape at the border. He’s given countries three months to come up with concessions before tariffs ranging from 10% to more than 50% go into effect. Tariffs on China are already in effect. On many issues it will be difficult, or in some cases impossible, for many countries to make a deal and lower their tariff rates

In addition, many trade officials from targeted countries say privately that it isn’t always clear what the Trump administration wants from them in the negotiations. Vice President JD Vance announced that India has agreed to the terms of trade talks with the United States, but other countries are still trying to set the contours for any negotiations.

The White House has highlighted conflicting goals for its import taxes: It’s seeking to raise revenues and bring manufacturing back to the US, but it also wants greater access to foreign markets and massive changes to other nations’ tax and regulatory policies.  Here are several non-tariff areas the administration is targeting:

Currency exchange rates: Trump has accused Germany, China and Japan of "global freeloading” by - in his view - devaluing their currencies to make their exports cheaper. The European Central bank has been cutting interest rates to support growth. That could also weaken the euro, which has strengthened sharply against the dollar since Trump took office.

Farm products: Agricultural safeguards against importing pests or health hazards have been a sticking point with U.S. trade partners for years. They include Japan’s restrictions on rice and potato imports, the EU’s ban on hormone-treated beef or chlorine-disinfected chickens and Korea’s ban on beef from cows more than 30 months old. Yet changes face stiff political resistance from voters and farm lobbies in those countries.

Taxation: Trump has railed against value-added tax as a burden to US companies, although economists say this kind of tax is trade-neutral because it applies equally to imports and exports. Value-added tax, or VAT, is paid by the end purchaser at the cash register but differs from sales taxes in that it is calculated at each stage of the production process.