The United States, under pressure on Friday to help break a deadlock in trade talks, defended its planned farm subsidy cuts and said others needed to hack deeper into their import tariffs before it could move more.
US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told reporters in Geneva, where World Trade Organisation member countries are trying to narrow gaps on farm and industrial trade, the United States was offering "fundamental change" to its subsidies.
Ministers from about a third of WTO member countries are battling to find common ground on a proposed deal to lower farm trade barriers as a vital step to a broader global pact.
The Doha Development Agenda round of negotiations, launched in 2001 and aiming to boost trade and reduce poverty, is fast running out of time to be concluded and tension is high. Washington has said it will cut its WTO allowance for most trade-distorting subsidies - the "amber box" - by 60 percent.
Critics say overall, the US offer will not necessarily cut into actual spending because they can make up the payments from other areas, giving them a budget of around $22 billion.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said on Friday that Brussels aimed to get "as near as possible" to a proposal by the G20 group of developing markets which includes an average 54 percent tariff cut for rich countries. Washington's original subsidy offer was conditional on Brussels agreeing to cut its import duties by 66 percent. The G20 proposal also requires the United States to cut its amber box subsidies by 70 percent.
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