Brussels, 30/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - Just three weeks from when the Union could partially sanction the foreclosure of the American steel market for a trade value of EUR 378 million annually, European and American officials now seem to be working to limit the damage. Although talks on the exemptions chapter of the compensatory package called for by the EU are taking place speedily, the transatlantic tandem no longer speaks of compensation strictly speaking, that is, of improved temporary access to the US market for a series of European exports. The Americans, who still think they have three years before them before having to offer compensation to the countries targeted by their safeguard measures, will however refrain from replying "tit for tat" to the counter-measures that the Europeans (Ed.: if they manage to get onto the right wavelength) could be forced to take without awaiting the Geneva ruling on the legality of the American provisions. "There have already been discussions" in the context of consultation but this was not the subject today, Grant Aldonas, US Under Secretary for Trade, told several journalists after talks with his European counterpart, Nogens Carl. He added more explicitly that he did not wish to fuel the hope that the US would engage in talks on compensation. He specified that simple requests (in this sense) cannot overcome the kind of obstacles facing them. He referred to the conditions (Ed.: three year reprieve) in which the United States approved the agreement on Safeguard after the Uruguay Round. In his view, the Europeans are assessing the impact of US safeguard procedures on its trade interests by taking the exclusion of certain products into account according to pre-defined criteria. He went on to insist that this is precisely the kind of circumstance that must make us take the dispute before a panel and that they could not engage in tit for tat responses (exchange of counter-measures) without going through the WTO process. He said they must ensure the process is strengthened. Washington is still confirmed in its legalist posture through interpretation of the verdict of Geneva in the matter of Korean pipelines, a verdict that Europeans also invoke to their credit. According to Grant Aldonas, the WTO said the US was right regarding the five-year period that served as a reference for measuring the evolution of Korean imports, as well as for the methodology generally followed by the Federal Commission for International Trade (ITC). He said it was "very, very significant". On the European side, there is also determination to limit damage, sources familiar with the dossier say. They state that the impact of American safeguard measures on European economic interests will be assessed bearing the exclusion process in mind.