Europe's trade chief said on Thursday it was unlikely that US President George W. Bush would have to honour his "grandiose" challenge to other world leaders to eliminate all barriers to trade. Bush told a UN summit on Wednesday he was willing to drop all trade barriers if other countries did the same.
European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told BBC Radio he welcomed "the high level of ambition that President Bush has expressed", saying it was shared by the European Commission.
Asked whether he was surprised by Bush's comments, Mandelson said: "It's easy to make these grandiose commitments, and some will say he's playing to the gallery, and some will say he's making these lavish promises in the almost certain knowledge that the rest of the world can't or won't follow suit".
He also said there was stiff resistance among politicians and farmers in the United States to the idea of scaling back subsidies for farm production and other proposals for reform that are due to be discussed at the World Trade Organisation. "There will be very many American farmers who will be waking to hear his words and will be choking on their cornflakes," Mandelson told the BBC.
The 148 member countries of the WTO are due to meet in Hong Kong in December in an attempt to push forward long-stalled talks on how to free up global trade.
Differences between the EU and the United States over farm reform are a big hurdle in the way of a broader agreement.
Mandelson's comments were echoed on Thursday by British Prime Minister Tony Blair who said it was time to call the bluff of world leaders who promised to scrap trade barriers that make it impossible for poor African countries to compete.
"We have to start calling those bluffs," the British leader said in New York, during the UN summit.
British government sources said Blair's comments were directed as much at Europe, Japan and other trading powers as they were at the United States.
Mandelson, who held talks on farm reform with his US counterpart Rob Portman in Washington this week, said progress could still be made in December.
"We know we are not going to eliminate all agricultural subsidies but that does not mean to say we should not go considerably further than ... in previous rounds," he said in the radio interview.
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