07/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - The United States and the EU must not allow a gap to widen between them, said CSU member Ingo Friedrich on Thursday, commenting on safeguard measures on steel imports taken in Washington. He appealed to the WTO, exclaiming: It is only thanks to the determined intervention of the WTO that we will be able to prevent Euro-American economic relations from being affected in a lasting way and international trade from suffering from the consequences of these decisions.