The United States accused the European Union today of "spinning to the press" by making public a new proposal to end a dispute over subsidies enjoyed by aircraft manufacturing rivals Airbus and Boeing.
"We had an agreement with the Europeans that each side would quietly reflect on the Friday call over the weekend," US Trade Representative spokesman Rich Mills said in a statement.
"We're extremely disappointed that they've begun spinning to the press - this does not help our relations or the management of the US-EU relationship."
Earlier, an EU official said the bloc had offered to cut by 30 per cent loans likely to be provided by European governments for Airbus's new A350 airliner in a bid to avert a legal battle with the United States at the World Trade Organisation.
EU trade commissioner Peter Mandeslon has controversially offered to cut the level of subsidy to Airbus for its new A350 as the US threatened a trade war over the issue.
It is understood the offer was made last week as the dispute over the EU's flaghsip jet and the US's Boeing 787.
The US provides subsidies to Boeing which it claims are legal under WTO rules but its trade envoy Rob Portman claims the EU aid is illegal despite being considerable less than that extended to Boeing.
The emergence of details of Mr Mandelsson's proposal has angered the Americans who consider the leak to be a complicating factor in sensitive talks.
Agencies