GLOBAL TRADE: US turns up the heat over stalled Doha round

The US yesterday turned up the heat on the European Union over global trade talks, saying the stalled Doha round would not succeed unless Brussels agreed to end farm export subsidies and dropped most of its demands for new trade rules.

Mr Robert Zoellick, US trade representative, said in Geneva that he had detected "encouraging signs" that World Trade Organisation members wanted to make progress.

But he said: "Agriculture is absolutely the key and it will need a commitment to end export subsidies. Let's stop fooling around here, let's eliminate them all." Export subsidies are key for Ireland in the talks, as they are vaulable to exporters of some agricultural products.

Mr Zoellick is nearing the end of a whirlwind world tour to seek support from trade ministers for his proposal last month to push ahead with the Doha negotiations.

The talks have been in limbo since the failure of the WTO's meeting in Cancun in September. Although EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy has responded enthusiastically, differences between Brussels and Washington over the central elements of a possible deal appear to be creating growing frictions. - (Financial Times Service)