Starting Monday, a wide range of US exports to Europe from roller skates to jewellery, steel, textiles and various farm products will be subject to a 5 percent penalty tariff that will ratchet higher by 1 percentage point each month over the next year unless Congress acts.

EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, who wrapped up meetings with key lawmakers and administration officials on Friday, insisted that the penalty tariffs were being imposed only reluctantly and would be lifted as soon as Congress passes a WTO-compatible tax law dealing with U.S. corporations.

"We have been extremely patient, but there is no way we can avoid these sanctions which will hopefully concentrate minds on the urgency of passing legislation," Lamy told reporters late Friday.

But resolution of the issue could be months away, given the wide difference of opinions among Republicans who control Congress.

The Bush administration, already being pummelled for pursuing trade policies which Democratic presidential candidates are blaming for the loss of millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs, expressed disappointment that the EU had gone ahead with retaliatory tariffs while Congress was considering replacement legislation.

"We regret that they are moving forward," said Richard Mills, spokesman for U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

The problem in Congress stems from competing visions of which U.S. corporations should be helped by the replacement legislation for exporter tax breaks. The WTO ruled them illegal four years ago. The cost of the breaks at the time was estimated at $4 billion annually, a price tag that has now risen to $5 billion annually.

Many in Congress want to target substitute corporate tax breaks to U.S. manufacturers, especially in light of the 3 million factory jobs one in six that the country has lost in the past 3 1/2 years.

Other lawmakers, including House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., want to let U.S.-based companies with overseas factories share in the breaks.

A Thomas-backed bill that passed his committee last fall would have cost $60 billion over 10 years and would have cut taxes not only for U.S. manufacturers but for many corporations doing business overseas.

That measure is opposed by legislation being sponsored by many Democrats, including Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and several Republicans including Reps. Philip Crane and Donald Manzullo.