U.S., Europeans to Meet Today on Citrus Fruit Issue

U.S. Trade Representative Clayton K. Yeutter planned a meeting with a top European Communities official today to resolve a 16-year-old dispute on sales of U.S. citrus fruit to Europe.

The United States on Friday sent a new proposal on the issue to Brussels, headquarters of the 12-nation Common Market, said Yeutter’s spokesman, Gary Holmes.

Yeutter and Willy de Cler, who heads external affairs for the European Communities, failed to settle the issue in talks last weekend in Brussels, causing renewed fears of a trade war.

Common Market officials said at that time that U.S. proposals were unsatisfactory.

Holmes declined to discuss the new proposal but said it concerns citrus fruit, pasta and walnuts.

One European, who spoke on condition that his name not be used, said the new U.S. proposal must have been worth discussing since De Cler agreed to the Saturday meeting, a rarity in Europe, especially in August.

The dispute stems from a decision by the Common Market to favor 11 Mediterranean non-member countries with lower tariffs in Europe on their exports of citrus fruits.

The Reagan Administration decided to take reprisals by putting restrictions on U.S. imports of pasta from Italy--a member of the Common Market. The Administration says the pasta is unfairly subsidized.