On Wednesday, EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler said he had been told the United States would give the EU more time to voluntarily lift its moratorium before bringing a case.

In line with that, Aldonas brushed aside a question about how much longer the Bush administration would wait before holding a top-level interagency meeting to discuss bringing a case.

"My impression is that we ought to focus on getting the Europeans to open up their market. The debate that's gone on about scheduling a meeting ... is not as important as keeping the pressure on the Europeans," Aldonas said.

Ultimately tough talk may be way for the United has to get the EU to drop its moratorium, he said. "I think it has to be. I think companies need to be pressing, we need to be pressing."

Farm groups and influential lawmakers have urged the Bush administration to seek a World Trade Organization ruling on the moratorium on approval of genetically modified products. They say it costs U.S. farmers $300 million a year in sales.

The ban reflects European consumers' concerns about the potential long-term impacts of gene-spliced foods on human health and the environment. The U.S. government says approved biotech crops pose no new risks.

During his visit to Washington this week, Fischler said the European Commission was already moving toward lifting the moratorium and warned that a U.S. decision to bring a WTO case at this time would greatly complicate that effort.

Aldonas said recent publicity about the U.S.-EU fight over biotech goods has been beneficial, "illustrating to countries in Africa that the products are safe."

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick has said some European countries have engaged in "immoral" behavior by hinting African countries should not accept genetically-modified food to help feed starving people in their countries.

At a separate event, Australian Ambassador to the United States Michael Thawley told reporters that Australia "has a great deal of sympathy" for the United States in its biotech trade spat with Europe.

"We agree that is a really, very crucial systemic issue which can effect the future of agricultural trade and it needs to be sorted out," Thawley said.

But because Australia has little, if any, biotech crop production, it does not have an immediate commercial interest at stake, he said.