21.   The threat of record U.S. sanctions against Japanese automobiles grows Tuesday as trade chiefs struggle in Geneva to defuse the dispute.

22.   The United States and the European Union failed Monday to agree on a compromise aimed at defusing a dispute over bananas before it escalates into a trade war.

23.   The United States and the European Union failed Monday to agree on a compromise to defuse a dispute over bananas before it escalates into a trade war.

24.   The United States and the European Union have failed to agree on a compromise aimed at defusing a dispute over bananas before it escalates into a trade war.

25.   The United States and the European Union appeared to have reached no immediate agreement Monday on defusing a dispute over bananas before it escalates into a trade war.

26.   Garten will be in China a month after US Trade Representative Mickey Kantor visited to complete an accord that defused a dispute over Chinese abuses of intellectual property rights.

27.   Chinese and US negotiators reached no agreement in their negotiations aimed at defusing a dispute over alleged textile transshipments aimed at avoiding US import quotas, Xinhua said Thursday.

28.   The two sides then tried to work out a compromise formula to defuse their dispute, the aides said.

29.   The dispute was defused at the last minute when US President Bill Clinton intervened.