Negotiators Say Subsidies Threaten Talks (WTO)

[Frederik]

By SAM CAGE, Associated Press Writer
24 minutes ago

"We did what we could," said Clodoaldo Hugueney, a top economic official with Brazil's Foreign Ministry. "You can't do miracles here."

The World Trade Organization is running at least two years behind its goal of brokering a new world trade deal by the end of 2004.

Its members had set themselves a July deadline for an outline deal covering all sectors, but an agreement on farm trade now looks unlikely after last-ditch meetings here, officials said ahead of a meeting of senior negotiators.

"I don't think it's a blame game. I think it's a collective responsibility," Hugueney said. This round of talks — launched in Doha, Qatar, in 2001 — is meant to pay extra attention to the interests of poorer countries as WTO members slash subsidies, tariffs and other barriers to global commerce. A 2003 conference in Cancun, Mexico, that was supposed to spur efforts collapsed in large part over differences on agricultural policy.

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