The White House has opened up a 'steel war' with the EU by imposing tariffs on European metal coming into the US, in a bid to offer salvation to its beleaguered industry.

But the move has angered European politicians – including Bush's military ally Tony Blair.

The UK premier feels that Bush and his colleagues are compromising the British steel industry, in what is a free market.

And EU leaders have vowed to fight their US cousins, and are alleged to have drawn up a hit-list of stateside industries to use as whipping boys in a bitter tit-for-tat fight.

Although the Florida citrus trade is far removed from steel, unfortunately for growers in the south-eastern state, theirs is said to be one of the EU's targets.

Asked if she was angry that they had been drawn into the exchange of industrial fire, US agriculture attaché in the UK Deanna Ayala said: 'The industry feels that way and rightly so.' She admitted that there was concern from her department that the EU could give Florida citrus growers a bloody nose.

She said: 'Retaliation it is intended to cause damage, so there is definitely a possibility... There could be some real distortions in the market.' Ayala also took time to fly the flag for the US – which has had its reputation as champion of free-market economics sullied by its behaviour on steel tariffs.

She said: 'It is a free-market, but there are safeguards that allow measures to be taken. It's something that the US doesn't take lightly.' Ayala added that no formal undertaking of industrial aggression had been tabled to the US. 'The information I have is that the EU has put together a list, but it has not presented this to the US yet,' she said.

The US exported $50million worth of grapefruit to the EU in 2001, with the UK receiving $5.6m of that total.

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