EC Authorizes but Delays Stiff Duties on U.S. Crops

European Community ambassadors on Thursday authorized slapping punitive duties on U.S. nuts and dried fruits--major California export crops--but delayed imposing them, providing a cooling-off period in a trade dispute triggered by the Community’s earlier ban on hormone-treated beef.

The ambassadors left to Community ministers, who are to meet Jan. 23, the final decision on implementing the 100% tariffs.

Diplomats in Brussels said the move was intended to provide a cooling-off period after the New Year’s Day beef ban. That move triggered a tit-for-tat sanction by the United States on equivalent amounts of European exports.

“The music we’re hearing is somewhat somnolent,” one ambassador remarked as it became clear that both sides were trying not to escalate the relatively small hormone dispute into a trade war that could sour the already-troubled atmosphere for talks on global trade issues.

“We don’t intend to escalate the affair,” Frans Andriessen, who became EC commissioner for external relations today, told reporters. “We hope the Americans will also agree escalation is not worth it.”

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Alan Holmer echoed that conciliatory tone but coupled it with the warning that “we will take actions to protect U.S. interests.”

Community spokesmen put the value of the list of U.S. exports subject to the approved punitive tariffs at $96.6 million, based on sales from 1985 through 1987. That matches the value of European goods Washington has penalized in response to the ban on hormone-treated meat, which the Europeans maintain is being kept out on health grounds. (Washington counters that no scientific evidence supports the ban and calls it a lightly veiled trade barrier.)

Trans-Atlantic trade totaled $166 billion last year.

Hardest hit by the latest round of punitive tariffs would likely be California, the leading U.S. farm exporter, which shipped $3.34 billion abroad last year--29% of it to the 12 nations of the European Community or Common Market. Most of those exports were in the form of high-value specialty crops, which include nuts and dried fruits, said Maria Sampanis, a trade expert with the California Farm Bureau Federation, an association of farmers and ranchers.

California’s walnut growers were hard hit two years ago, Sampanis recalled, in the last in a series of periodic trans-Atlantic trade disputes. That one initially involved U.S. citrus and European pasta, but spread to include walnuts as well. While a full-scale trade war was averted, walnut growers still lost millions of dollars in sales during the prime holiday selling season until a face-saving solution was found, she said.

Thursday’s vote for authorizing the punitive tariffs but delaying implementation was a strategy supported especially by Britain and Denmark, which had sought to convince their partners in the 12-nation Community that a lull in hostilities would best serve their interests. Other members were said to favor sending a more aggressive signal to avoid giving any impression that European resolve was weakening, the Financial Times of London reported.

At the same time, work continues behind the scenes. The EC’s executive commission is to report to member states on progress next week, and diplomats specializing in trade policy will also meet to discuss ways out of the impasse.

Times staff writer Bruce Keppel contributed to this story from Los Angeles.

CALIFORNIA’S FARM EXPORT MARKETS Percentages are for 1987 and based on total value for agricultural exports of $3.34 billion. Pacific Rim countries: 53% Euroepean Community: 29% Canada 13% Mexico: 2% Soviet Union: 1% Other: 25 Source: Calfifornia Department of Food and Agriculture.