By Jonathan Lynn
GENEVA (Reuters) - Talks to salvage a global trade dealfaced a crunch point on Thursday after three days of scantprogress, as ministers went into another marathon meeting withdeveloping giant India saying it had nothing new to offer.
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.
"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 United States and European Union say it is up to bigemerging countries like India, China and Brazil to respondafter Washington said it would slash its contentious farmsubsidies and the EU fleshed out an offer to cut itsagricultural tariffs.
But the emerging countries say Washington and Brussels arestill not doing enough to help poor farmers in the developingworld in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha round talks,which are supposed to promote development.
"The negotiations are locked but the key for unlocking themis in the hands of the emerging economies," Adolfo Urso,Italy's most senior trade official, told Reuters.
"NOTHING TO GIVE"
Ministers from seven key WTO members -- Australia, Brazil,China, the European Union, India, Japan and the United States-- adjourned the talks in the early hours of Thursday aftersome 12 hours, saying they had made "some progress".
Indian negotiator Kamal Nath said: "We broke on that --let's see what more we can do. I'm very clear what we cannotdo. I cannot negotiate livelihood security of Indian farmers.... I cannot negotiate anything which leads to no investment inIndian agriculture,"
"There is nothing which I have in my pocket to give. I'mwaiting to see how much less distortions the United States iswilling to do now," he told a news conference.
U.S. President George W. Bush and Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh discussed on Thursday the need for trade powersto contribute to a breakthrough in the Doha talks, the WhiteHouse said.
On Tuesday U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab sought toget the talks moving by announcing the United States would cutits trade-distorting farm subsidies to $15 billion (7.5 billionpounds).
Developing countries say this is meaningless as currentoutlays are nearer $7 billion thanks to soaring food prices.But Washington says prices go up and down and the proposedlevel would have meant real cuts in support in 7 of the past 10years.
Nath had scant comfort for "high-cost" U.S. and Europeanbusinesses lobbying for a deal to stop developing nationscarving out entire industrial sectors from market opening.
"In a globalising world where competitiveness is at theheart of globalisation if you're non-competitive you can't seekrefuge under an agreement of the WTO," Nath said.
"The future is that cars are not going to be made inStuttgart or Detroit -- they're going to be made in Asia."
SARKOZY CONCERN
The Doha talks, launched in late 2001, came under attackfrom another quarter when French President Nicolas Sarkozy,concerned about cutting EU farm tariffs for little return, saidhe could not sign the current deal.
"I have no reaction except to say that the commission ischarged with negotiating here at the WTO on behalf of allmember states and we will continue to do so," EU trade chiefPeter Mandelson, who has sparred frequently with Sarkozy overthe talks, told reporters.
Business lobbyists expressed concern at the fallout frompossible failure of the current talks, which could encourageprotectionist sentiment and block trade growth in a troubledworld economy -- Japan's exports unexpectedly shrank in Junefor the first time in nearly five years, data showed onThursday.
"From talking to negotiators it's clear there's quite a lotof stuff in the back pocket -- we need to find a way of teasingit out," said Gary Campkin, head of the international group ofthe British employers' federation CBI.
"It's frustrating for business to know there's this stuffout there and the deal if people put their minds to it isdoable," he said.
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.
(Additional reporting by Laura MacInnis, Robin Pomeroy andWilliam Schomberg, editing by Mary Gabriel)
