Brussels, 31/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - The EU, which envisages taking measures against the United States on 18 June at the latest in retaliation for the customs duties the latter has introduced on imports of steel, could delay the date for implementing the measures, a European source close to the issue said on Friday, stipulating that "should negotiations with the Americans over compensations break-down (…) the tactic being proposed by the European Commission is to trigger the sanctions mechanisms on the deadline of 18 June without for that "firing" straight away". The goal: grant the United States more time, which has until 3 June to decide on exoneration measures for European steel companies. This approach has, however, to receive the Council's backing. Although the European Commission confirms that it wants to secure damages of some 2.5 billion euro in losses in revenue caused by the American duties, the statements made by certain diplomats in Brussels at the end of the meeting between the American Under- Secretary for trade, Grant Aldonas and the European Commission's Director General responsible for trade, Mogens Peter Carl (see yesterday's EUROPE , P. 7) may lead one to think that the "European front" could crack. According to the diplomats, adopting the old adage "divide to reign", the United States is seeking to offer exemptions to its "friends" in Europe to gather a minority block in Council against the Commission's projects. Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden and the Netherlands are said to be very interested in the exemptions which, according to the Commission, can only be understood in the framework of a global agreement. In this context, the tactic consisting of "arming oneself without firing" raised on Friday seems to be a way of gaining time in view of finding a negotiated solution with Washington and avoiding the triggering of a transatlantic trade war for which many Europeans, especially the Germans and Swedes fear the consequences. The spokesman for Pascal Lamy, Antony Gooch, for his part, told the press on Friday that the Commission was preparing to present the Permanent Representatives of the Fifteen, that same afternoon, a plan revising the EU strategy on steel.