Lexecutives of American steel companies said they were assured Monday that if the United States grants exemptions from high tariffs imposed on foreign steel, they will not compromise the president's goal of relieving domestic pro-ducers.

The executives met with top officials in President George W. Bush's administration, including Commerce Secretary Dan Evans and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, to express concern that too many exemptions could gut the relief program. The program is meant to give the domestic steel mills three years to become more competitive.

Thomas J. Usher, chief executive of United States Steel Corp., said industry officials were satisfied with pledges that any tariff exemptions would be based on demonstrations that U.S. companies could not provide the steel in question, The Associated Press reported.

So far the government has granted requests to exclude 224 steel products from the tariffs, which can go as high as 30 percent, out of an initial group of 470. It said it was extending the review period until the end of August to consider another 800 exemption requests.

Usher said steel executives received indications that only a small number of further ex-emptions were likely to be granted.

But an administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the adminis-tration cannot say how many more exemptions will be granted because it is still processing applications. The official said further exemptions will be announced, probably weekly, as reviews are completed.

The battle over steel has brought the United States to the brink of a trade war with a number of its trading partners, including China, Japan and the 15-nation European Union.

Bush imposed the stiff tariffs in March to protect the beleaguered U.S. industry from a flood of im-ports that has contributed to more than 30 bankruptcies of American steel companies and thousands of lost U.S. jobs since 1997.

Other countries have threatened to retaliate with punitive tariffs, contending the U.S. action was not justified, given that steel imports have declined. The EU has issued a retaliation list that targets goods ranging from Florida citrus pro-ducts to North and South Carolina textiles.

China has threatened to raise tariffs on U.S. exports of waste-paper, soybean oil and compressors worth US$94 million a year.

The U.S. official told reporters that so far about 700,000 metric tons of steel have been exempted from higher tariffs - less than 6 percent of the 13.1 million tons of annual steel imports originally targeted.

The United States imports about 28 million tons of steel a year.