Europeans Poised to Battle in Conflict Over U.S. Beef

European foreign ministers on Monday approved a plan to impose heavy sanctions on some U.S. imports if the Bush Administration fails to move quickly to end a stubborn trade dispute over hormone-treated meat from America.

Ministers of the 12-nation European Community agreed to slap duties on imports of U.S. walnuts and dried fruit but indefinitely delayed implementing the tariffs to allow more time to settle the conflict.

“We hope the new North American Administration will adopt a more intelligent attitude,” said Spanish Foreign Minister Francisco Fernandez Ordonez.

He said President George Bush is “a free trader. I hope he will honor that name.”

U.S. officials expressed satisfaction that the community delayed imposing the duties.

“We want to make every effort to first contain and then resolve this dispute, and this decision . . . is clearly a positive step in that direction,” read a statement from the U.S. mission to the trading bloc.

But the statement also said officials were “very concerned” about the ministers’ decision to approve a list of products “which could eventually be the target of . . . counter-retaliation.”

The EC on Jan. 1 banned imports of U.S. meat from cattle treated with growth hormones, an action affecting about $100 million worth of beef and beef byproducts. European officials contend the hormones pose a health risk, a claim the United States disputes. American farmers use the hormones to fatten cattle.

The United States immediately retaliated by setting about $100 million worth of higher tariffs on a variety of EC products.