A US senator raised expectations late Friday of a new European Union offer in world trade talks, and a senior Bush administration official agreed the time was right for Brussels to make that move.
With the negotiations deep in crisis, top trade negotiators of the so-called G6 - the United States, the European Union, Australia, Brazil, India and Japan - are headed to Geneva this weekend in search of a breakthrough.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss said in a statement he had been told by "administration officials" on Thursday that the EU was prepared to make a new proposal to cut farm tariffs much more than its current offer and more than the "G20" developing countries have proposed.
"This is welcome news and the type of serious proposal we have been waiting for," said Chambliss, a Georgia Republican who met on Thursday with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab and US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.
"If the Europeans are prepared to move, then this shows the Europeans are finally willing to be full participants in the negotiations and this will help trade ministers make significant progress this weekend," Chambliss said. An EU official in Washington brushed off Chambliss' statement, describing it as a combination of wishful thinking and misinformation.
A spokesman for the US Trade Representative's office indicated Schwab was not one of Chambliss' administration sources, even though the two met on Thursday. "While it would be a welcome development, this is not something Ambassador Schwab is aware of," USTR spokesman Sean Spicer said.
But in a separate briefing, a senior Bush administration official said whether or not the EU can come forward with a new offer "is the biggest question of the weekend."
"We're hopeful ... that the answer to that question will be yes, but I think the verdict is still out on that," the official said, speaking on condition he not be identified because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations.
The talks have been deadlocked because of disagreements over how far to cut farm subsidies and agricultural and manufacturing tariffs. Without a breakthrough soon, the nearly 5-year-old trade round could fail.
The United States has proposed average tariff cuts of 66 percent, compared to a G20 proposal for 54 percent average cuts and the EU's plan for 39 percent cuts. Brussels has indicated it could come close the G20 proposal, but has not presented a new offer yet. Washington says deep cuts are required to generate actual new trade flows and only its proposal fills that bill.
"We are going to be utterly uncompromising in our commitment to getting a (deal) ... that allows trade to increase," the senior administration official said. "Until we see trade liberalising outcomes, it's hard for us to see how we can close out the negotiations," he added.
The United States has been under pressure to offer deeper domestic farm subsidy cuts, but says others need to make the next move because it made a generous offer last year. If they do, "we're willing to look at whether there's more we can do" on farm subsidies, the US official said.
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