E.C. OFFICIAL SAYS FATE OF VEG OIL TAX UNCERTAIN
Whether the European Community's
Council of Ministers will approve a proposed tax on vegetable
oils that has sparked threats of U.S. retaliation is uncertain,
an EC official said.
    "It is very far from certain that it will go through," Sir
Roy Denman, Head of the EC Delegation in Washington, told
reporters before he addressed the Foreign Trade Association.
    Denman noted Britain remains opposed to the plan and West
Germany has opposed it in the past.
    U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter has threatened
retaliation if the tax is approved, as it would limit U.S.
soybean exports to the EC. Council action is expected soon.
    Denman said while the EC is willing to negotiate about
agriculture in a new round of trade talks, it is unwilling to
single out export subsidies on a negotiating agenda or put
agricultural policy on a special fast track.
    "The key to a solution in this area seems to me not in the
framing of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)
wording...but in tackling government subsidies to farmers on
both sides of the Atlantic," he said.
 Reuter
