ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995               TAG: 9512010048
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON

U.S., EUROPE FIND ACCORD ON TARIFF CUTS

The United States and the European Union agreed Thursday to reduce tariffs on American products, averting threatened U.S. trade sanctions against the 15-nation trading bloc.

The dispute involved compensation due the United States because of the addition of three new countries to the EU on Jan. 1.

Because those nations - Austria, Finland and Sweden - were forced to raise tariffs on some American exports to match higher EU rates, world trade laws required the EU to compensate the United States by cutting tariffs in other areas.

Officials estimated the tariff reductions, involving hundreds of products in the computer, farm and chemical sectors, would total $2 billion over the next decade.

- Associated Press

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