TALKS AIMED at securing a global trade deal teetered on the brink of collapse last night as negotiators struggled to agree a compromise to liberalise trade in industrial and farm products.
EU and US negotiators said developing economies were not offering enough access to their markets for industrial exports in return for pledges to reduce tariffs on farm imports.
"We will not sign this agreement that is on the table if it is not modified," said French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who has threatened to veto any deal that forces cuts in the tariffs that protect EU farmers from farm imports from developing states such as Brazil without getting access to new markets for EU industry.
Ministers from more than 30 countries have been taking part in marathon talks in Geneva aimed at finding the basis for a deal in the Doha round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks. But officials report little progress on resolving the gap between developed trading blocs such as the EU and US and developing countries such as Brazil, India and China.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan said the talks were stuck because developing nations were not willing to make concessions on reducing tariffs on industrial products and services.
She said the EU had gone as far as it could by offering cuts in farm tariffs and if there was no "seismic change" in attitude by developing states the talks would break down.
"Ireland Inc would like to see a deal but only a balanced deal and at the moment we don't see that," said Ms Coughlan, who criticised a decision to delay talks on opening the lucrative global services sector - a key part of the Irish economy - to competition.
But developing states say the EU and US have not done enough to reduce subsidies to farmers and reduce tariffs on farm imports from developing states.
"I'm very clear what we cannot do. I cannot negotiate the livelihood security of Indian farmers . . . I cannot negotiate anything which leads to no investment in Indian agriculture," said Indian negotiator Kamal Nath. "There is nothing which I have in my pocket to give. I'm waiting to see how much less distortions the US is willing to do now."
Major disagreements emerged in late-night talks on Wednesday, which stretched into yesterday morning, over a so-called anti-concentration clause, which is meant to prevent states from shielding large parts of their industry from foreign imports.
There are concerns in states such as Germany that developing states will shield entire industrial sectors such as the car industry by invoking the clause. Most observers say that without progress on industrial tariffs, the talks will break up without a deal.
The downbeat mood among negotiators in Geneva was reflected in comments in Brasilia, where agriculture minister Reinhold Stephanes said the Doha round would not help farmers in the developing world. "I don't believe in the Doha round. This round is pointless. There is no way to achieve any results," he said.
If no deal is agreed this week, most commentators say the negotiations will have to be put off for at least a year until the US presidential election is over and a new EU trade commissioner is in place.
