By Laura MacInnis and Robin Pomeroy
GENEVA (Reuters) - Talks to salvage a global trade dealfaced a crunch point on Thursday after three days of scantprogress, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he wouldnot sign a deal in its current form.
Rich and poor countries remained at loggerheads as to whomust make the next move and officials said it would becomeclear on Thursday whether it was worth pursuing the talks.
Collapse could add more years of delay to the World TradeOrganisation's Doha negotiations to bring down barriers toexports worldwide.
"What I see is big divergences still. We'll see during theday if it is possible to bridge these gaps," Argentina's chiefnegotiator Nestor Stancanelli said as he arrived at WTOheadquarters on the shores of Lake Geneva.
The talks were originally due to run until Saturday butdelegates say they will either flop before then because of thedeep differences or drag on well into next week.
"We are potentially closer than we have ever been to adeal, but the final steps are the hardest and still lookformidable," said EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on hisweblog.
France's Sarkozy, concerned about scaling back the EU'sfarm import tariffs for little return, said he would not tosign up for the deal currently on the table.
"We will not sign this agreement that is on the table if itis not modified," Sarkozy told reporters in France. He haspreviously criticised Mandelson's handling of the WTO talks.
The so-called development round, launched in the Qataricapital in 2001, is meant, among other things, to make iteasier for developing countries to export farm produce byreducing rich countries' subsidies and import tariffs onagricultural goods.
The United States and the European Union have made offerson agriculture, but are pushing developing countries to opentheir borders for imports of industrial goods like cars andchemicals, and services like banking and telecommunications.
BLEAK ASSESSMENT
Without a breakthrough before the August break, the Doharound risks further years of delays due to next year's changesat the U.S. White House and at the European Commission.
A European diplomat said trade talks often needed a crisisto get to a breakthrough. "All parties will have think veryhard about their role in any negotiating failure," he said.
A U.S. industry representative said Washington negotiatorsgave lobbyists "a pretty bleak assessment" of the talks.
Supporters of the round say it is needed more than ever togive a rare, positive signal to a slowing global economy.
Japan's exports unexpectedly shrank in June for the firsttime in nearly five years, data showed on Thursday.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva dropped hisrecently optimistic tone to warn the United States and the EUthey risked bringing down the round because their offers onfarm subsidies and tariffs fell short, Brazilian media said.
Japan said it wanted to shield more its agriculturalproducts, such as rice, from big import tariff cuts.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab has urged developingcountries to come forward with offers of their own after sheoffered to cap trade-distorting subsidies to U.S. farmers at$15 billion a year, a level many countries still consider toohigh.
Schwab said a group of key ministers had made "a littleprogress" at talks which ended shortly before dawn on Thursday.
The ministers from Australia, Brazil, China, the EU, India,Japan and the United States are due to meet again at 4:00 pm(1400 GMT) to see if they can break the deadlock.
(Additional reporting by William Schomberg, Doug Palmer andJonathan Lynn; writing by Robin Pomeroy and William Schomberg;Editing by Jon Boyle)