US denies making new farm trade offer

WASHINGTON - The United States, under pressure to unblock jammed world trade talks, denied reports it had made a new farm trade offer and said it was still trying to get other countries to match its plan for cracking open agricultural markets.

"There is not a new US offer out to the EU or anybody else for that matter," Peter Allgeier, US ambassador to the World Trade Organisation, told reporters.

"Our ambition remains what it has been. We want to make this round meaningful ... and the formula for that means that there has to be new market access opportunities created."

Neena Moorjani, spokeswoman for the office of the US Trade Representative, said Washington was still waiting for other WTO member countries to meet its level of ambition in terms of extensive cuts in tariffs on agricultural goods.

"Recent press reports suggest that the US government may be ready to settle and lower ambition to conclude the Doha talks. We want Doha to succeed but the US remains fully committed to our objectives to conclude an ambitious trade round," Moorjani said in a statement.

A report in specialist publication Inside US Trade said Washington was prepared to bring its demands for average farm tariff cuts closer to a lower proposal by the G20 developing countries, and give up some forms of smaller subsidy allowances which would reduce its overall spending.

Ministers from World Trade Organisation member countries meet next week in Geneva to try to agree on a blueprint for cutting subsidies and tariffs on farm and industrial goods in order to keep the Doha Development round of talks on track after four and a half years of limited progress.

Failure would likely scupper chances of the round finishing in 2006, which could kill it completely as special US presidential powers to negotiate trade pacts expire next year and are not expected to be renewed by Congress.

The United States has offered to make deep cuts in its domestic farm subsidies, but only if other countries slash their tariffs on farm and manufactured goods and also open their markets to more international services companies.

But it is coming under pressure from the European Union and the G20 to offer deeper domestic subsidy cuts and reconsider its market access demands, which Brussels calls unrealistic.

Allgeier said ministers needed to focus next week on agricultural market access, in particular the impact of the exclusion of politically sensitive products on any final deal.

He said he did not get the impression that the European Union was planning a more ambitious offer. "We don't see a lot of evidence that there's a lot of moves planned on that side," he said.

Some US farm lawmakers have said they will reject any Doha deal that does not deliver significant access to new markets to offset any cuts in subsidies. But other WTO countries say Washington will have to show some flexibility.

- REUTERS