Businesses in Oxfordshire are watching to see if the terrorist attacks on America will affect their trade.

Firms are waiting to see how George W. Bush reacts to the strikes which crippled New York and brought devastation to Washington.

Paul Durands, commercial manager for Oxford BioMedica, based at Oxford Science Park, said: "There are a lot of firms in Oxford, such as ourselves, who trade with America. At present, we are able to trade, although I think the long-term effect all depends on what the president does next."

DNA-testing company Cellmark Diagnostics in Abingdon was bought by US-based Orchid Biosciences last year.

Development manager David Hartshorne said: "I have spoken to colleagues in our Princeton offices in New Jersey, which is not far from New York, and everybody is concerned there for their partners and friends.

"A lot work in New York and some in the World Trade Center and everybody is very shocked and concerned."

Sharon Ostaszewska, corporate communications manager for Bookham Technology, which makes fibre optic circuits for telecommunications devices at Milton Park, near Abingdon, said: "We have got some staff out in Israel and America and we are keeping in touch with them and their families and trying to get them back as soon as possible."

Tony Weir, finance director of Cowley-based pharmaceutical company British Biotech, said: "There is just one agent who works for us in New York and they are working from home because their offices are in Manhattan. It's just grim -- they could see the World Trade Center on Tuesday morning and now they can't."