A long-simmering row between Brussels and Washington over visas is set to break into the open on Tuesday when the European Commission considers whether to force US citizens to apply for a visa before travelling to Europe.

Commissioners will meet to discuss what steps, if any, to take against the US if Washington ignores Brussels’ demand for a visa waiver to apply for all EU citizens.

Officials involved in the negotiations — which, in various forms, have dragged on for nearly a decade — are hopeful that a full-blown diplomatic fight can be avoided at a time when relations between the EU and the US are already strained by issues of trade, tax and even China.

Although most EU citizens are able to travel to the US without a proper visa, Washington has stricter entry rules for visitors from some central and eastern member states.

People from Poland, Croatia, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania have to get a visa before travelling to the US on holiday or business. It is these countries that are pushing for Brussels to take tough steps against Washington unless it changes its ways, according to officials.

The EU demands that its member states “act in common” when it comes to visa policy, especially when a country “subjects citizens to differing treatment”.

In 2014, the US was given two years to offer all EU citizens the chance to benefit from its visa waiver programme, which is used by a total of 30 European countries.

“The deadline concerns the needs for the college [of commissioners] to take stock of the situation,” said a spokesperson for the European Commission. “It will discuss the economic impact, the political impact and the impact on external relations with these countries. Then they will discuss the next possible steps.”

National capitals and the European Parliament would have the final say on whether to suspend the visa waiver programme enjoyed by US visitors. Such a decision would not apply to Britain and Ireland, which have opt outs from the EU’s visa policy.

US officials, however, insist that countries such as Romania simply have not met the requirements for its visa waiver programme.

Negotiations have been complicated by new US rules dictating that all visitors who have travelled to Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria have to apply for a visa — a move that also angered Brussels.

The fight over visas is just one example of the increasingly tetchy transatlantic relationship. Since the start of 2016, the two have clashed on everything from the tax treatment of big US technology groups in Europe to whether China should be treated as a “market economy”.

These disagreements come as both sides are in the process of negotiating a sweeping free-trade deal called TTIP.

Canada also faces the prospect of being dragged into the argument due to Ottawa’s insistence that citizens from Romania and Bulgaria apply for visas before visiting.