Pressure is mounting today on the European Union to make concessions on farm export subsidies to allow new talks on freeing up more global commerce.
Senior US negotiators at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit in Qatar said "very, very substantial progress" had been made in four days of talks.
A second failure to reach agreement among the 142 WTO could cripple the global trading system at a time of recession or near-recession in the world economy.
But just like the 1999 session, agriculture has proven to be one of the most difficult topics.
The EU, and especially France, was essentially alone after Japan, South Korea and Norway agreed to a proposed text calling for the eventual "phasing out" of farm export subsidies.
France, which benefits the most from the EU's farm budget, has a strong farmers' lobby and presidential elections just six months away.
US and other trade negotiators suggested the EU might be able to pressure France to agree to talks on a phase-out of subsidies if gains could be made in other areas of importance to Europe, such as environmental issues related to trade, or opening talks on competition policy and protecting investment.
AP