Trans-Atlantic trade tensions appeared to ease on Friday as Baroness Ashton, the EU trade commissioner, welcomed a decision by the US to delay the imposition of a highly unpopular sanctions regime.

So-called “carousel” sanctions, which would be applied on a rotating basis to various EU goods, including French Roquefort cheese, were authorised by the outgoing Bush administration in January in retaliation for the Brussels ban on hormone-treated US beef.