The United States still believes countries can agree this week to set a date to eliminate agricultural export subsidies despite EU complaints others have not moved far enough.
"I hope we can do export subsidies. I think there's a still shot at that," US Trade Representative Rob Portman said today at world trade talks in Hong Kong.
"I suspect those are excuses not to move forward rather than real reasons," he added, referring to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson's comments that others were "not even at first base" in terms of the moves they needed to make.
The United States and the G20 group of wealthy and developing countries say breaking the deadlock in agriculture is the key to making progress in the rest of the negotiations.
They insist the onus is on the EU to improve its offer on market access and are pressing it to agree this week to commit to phasing out all export subsidies by 2010.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan, said EU concessions to date on agriculture were being taken for granted.
The EU has to eliminate agricultural export subsidies as part of an overall package of measures including liberalised trade in services and measures to aid developing countries. But the EU is seeking increased access to developing country markets before it agrees to a date for ending subsidies.
"It is not acceptable that concessions in agriculture are a condition for movement in other areas. The commission must vigorously resist demands for any further concessions in the form of an end-date for export refunds without full parallelism," Ms Coughlan said.
"If we concede on a date for export subsidies this will lead to demands for further concessions in the area of market access," a spokesman for the Minister said.
"There has been little or no movement by the negotiating partners in relation to export credits, state trading enterprises and food aid, and we must stand firm, therefore, in defending the position we have agreed in the council."