US President Donald Trump has backed down from setting high tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors imported from the European Union, BBC reported.

Last month, Trump said pharmaceuticals and semiconductors were not covered by the US and EU's handshake trade deal - meaning those sectors could have faced tariffs rates of 250% and 100% respectively.

But according to new details released about the US-EU agreement on Thursday, EU pharma and semiconductor tariffs will be limited to 15% in line with most other sectors in the trade deal.

However, the EU will first have to pass legislation reducing US export tariffs to zero in order to get the 27.5% tariffs on car exports reduced to 15%, according to BBC.