Brussels, 19/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - While the Union continues its preparations with a view to taking sanctions against the US restrictions on foreign steel imports, the United States warned, on Friday, that it considered this action as illegal under the dispute settlement procedures of the World Trade Organisation. It pointed out, however, that it has not yet had its last word on the trade compensations that the Union is calling for. In the meantime, in Paris, representatives of some forty OECD producer countries agreed to see each other again during this year to continue their talks on reducing world production capacities, by 128 million tonnes by 2005. Speaking anonymously in Washington, one American official pointed out that the question of "rebalancing" trade volumes between the EU, Japan and other producer countries "has not yet been settled". Consultation on compensation is "under way", he said, after the fashion of the European Commission spokesperson who had specified just a few hours earlier that talks are being held "on a reasonably regular basis". However, he said, "I have not heard any one (on the other side of the Atlantic) say that there is an offer" from the Americans. "If the United States made us an offer it would be melody to our ears", he added, while the American side states "it is unfair to say" that compensation has not been offered. "What we hope", it is recalled in Brussels, is that there will be "adequate compensation for the considerable injury that has already been done through export losses". If no satisfaction is reached (in terms of improving market access for European exports other than those targeted by American restrictions), the EU could impose counter-measures on US trade for a commercial value of EUR 2-2.5 billion, once the judgement has been made in Geneva on the legality of the disputed measures, probably after June 2003. The EU is preparing to impose immediate, limited sanctions in areas such as steel products, textiles and citrus fruit. A shorter list based on the general retaliatory list to be submitted to the WTO for information before the end of May was discussed just ahead of the weekend by Member States representatives on the 133 Committee, along with other areas of the EU strategy that still had to be finalised. The same official sources in Washington indicate that any immediate retaliation by the EU would contravene the multilateral dispute settlement arrangement.