US to sell flour to Egypt under sharp price subsidy

The United States announced Tuesday it will sell 1 million metric tons of subsidized flour to Egypt in what officials described as the first major retaliation against the European Community.

Agriculture Secretary John Block said that subsidies enabled other countries to sell wheat flour to Egypt at a price $100 a ton or more below US values.

The flour sale follows President Reagan's announcement last week that the US plans to fight vigorously what it views as unfair European food trade practices. Washington and Brussels are locked in negotiations to avert a trade war.