Brussels, 30/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the appropriate time, the Union will be able to impose sanctions of up to USD 4.043 billion on American trade, if the United States fails to abolish unfair subsidies under its tax code to its FSC, or foreign sales corporations, states in essence the long-awaited verdict of the World Trade Organisation, announced on Friday afternoon. It goes without saying that the decision, which confirms to the cent the Union's "reasonable" estimate of damages (as against a little more than USD 970 million, according to Washington's calculations), was greeted in Brussels "with very great satisfaction". "We would like to see the rules abided by at the earliest opportunity" and "we call on the American Congress to act speedily to ensure that American regulations evolve and to abolish the FSC and ETI system [its successor, Ed.] very quickly", declared Commissioner Pascal Lamy. The Americans need time as the controversy is still in full swing in Congress, but "there is a limit to the patience of the Europeans", states a source in Brussels. The grace period could be extended until the elections next November in the United States. "That is a key date", explains the same source, "because, under the rules governing Congress, in the absence of a decision by then, the legislative procedure will go back to square one". From the European standpoint, "the bill before Congress, the Thompson bill, would allow a welcome evolution". Tabled at the start of the summer, this text encountered fierce opposition from the main beneficiaries of the system, whose arguments carried weight with influential Members of Congress, notably the argument based on the risk of seeing US firms relocate their production (see EUROPE of 14 August, p. 2). In Washington, the reaction to Geneva's estimate of damages (by far the highest level of retaliation measures ever authorised), was immediate: the United States is staggering under the blow, since there is no appeal possible at this stage of the dispute that has been ongoing for decades, and expressing "disappointment". "The main thing, however, is that the Executive branch will now work with Congress to enable us to comply fully with our obligations", said Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, adding that "this verdict will become unnecessary in the end".