Asked to comment on the parting gift from his German counterpart at his last NATO meeting in Brussels, Powell admitted that the two men had a history of such exchanges.

"Its a little joke that Joschka and I have played on each other for several years," said Powell, who is a veteran of NATO gatherings, starting long ago in the lower ranks of the US military.

"I expressed my admiration for German flip-top beer one day, the kind with the little tops that pop off, and Joschka sent me a case and I enjoyed it very much.

"And the next time I saw him since he is a member of the Greens party I gave him the empties back," he added.

While the tone was jocular, the comments came against a background of resurgent tension between Washington and Berlin notably over Iraq, where Germany was firmly in the anti-war camp.

Only seconds before his jokey remarks, Powell had been scathing about a group of countries -- including Germany -- are now refusing to let officers be deployed to a NATO training mission in Baghdad.

The US secretary of state was ever the diplomat when asked how he liked his latest German gift.

"I dont know. I havent had a chance to drink it yet. I will report in due course," he said.

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