PRESIDENT Clinton will announce today whether he has heeded EU pleas to hold back on certain sanctions against foreign companies investing in Cuba.
The president is aware of the strenuous protests from the EU and other countries such as Canada and Mexico but Cuba has become an important election issue.
Until his decision, there will be no official comment on the pressure applied by the EU's list of possible retaliatory measures announced in Brussels.
The feeling in Washington is that Mr Clinton will not sign a waiver postponing implementation of the part of the Helms Burton Act allowing foreign firms to be sued in US courts.
This would only apply to companies which have invested in property in Cuba which belonged to US corporations before being confiscated by the Marxist government after the 1959 takeover.
EdenBrook, an Irish firm listed as an offender, denies any trading links with Cuba although it has been trying to broker a deal between a European manufacturer and the Cubans for the production of vaccine for meningitis B.
Mr Clinton is conscious of the importance of the Cuban American influence in Florida which has 25 electoral college votes in the November presidential election. He signed, the Helms Burton law after two US planes were shot down by the Cuban air force allegedly in international airspace.
If he does sign the waiver to postpone action for six months, he will be handing his Republican opponent, Mr Bob Dole, ammunition to attack him for being "soft on Cuba". He would also be seen to weaken in face of EU threats.
Already, the US is implementing another part of the anti Cuban law which allows it to refuse entry into the US of senior executives and their families of offending foreign companies.
In an angry response, EU Foreign Ministers last night sent a message to the White House, saying they were fed up being used as ammunition in the move against Cuba.
The seizure by the US of the assets of EU companies and the denial by the US of visas to European businessmen has caused anger. The denial last week of visas to eight Canadian and two British businessmen, executives of firms trading with Cuba, was the final straw. And Commission sources believe that the US Justice Department has a long list of further likely victims.
For months, EU diplomats, led by Trade Commissioner, Sir Leon Brittan, have warned the Clinton administration that the Helms Burton Act was illegal in international trade law.
The dispute marks an inauspicious start to the Irish presidency's term at the helm of EU foreign policy.