EC group starts talks in US on steel exports

A delegation from the European Common Market began talks here Wednesday renewing EC efforts to work out a deal with the Reagan administration on limiting European steel exports to the United States.

Administration officials said they were increasingly optimistic the negotiations would lead to an end of a dispute resulting from American industry charges of unfair trade practices by EC countries. In meetings last weekend in Brussels, the EC offered to limit exports to 5.8 percent of the US market for the next three years, down from 6.4 percent in 1981. US negotiators have been pressing for a slightly lower ceiling.