PARIS, April 3 (Reuters) - France's aerospace industry

has written to the European Commission calling for

"proportionate and assertive" counter-measures if U.S. tariffs

cause significant damage to the key export sector, a person

familiar with the matter said.

The appeal from the country's powerful Gifas aerospace

lobby, whose rotating presidency is currently held by Airbus

, also calls for any retaliation to be fine-tuned so as

to avoid hurting European companies that rely heavily on US

imports.

Gifas did not respond to a request for comment. The European

Commission referred to an earlier statement by its president

Ursula von der Leyen, who said the European Union was prepared

to respond with countermeasures if talks with Washington failed.