US Trade Representative Rob Portman said on Friday the European Union must improve its offer on access to agricultural markets if World Trade Organisation talks are to make headway.
Agreement among the 148 member countries on a deal to cut trade-distorting subsidies and tariffs on agriculture is seen as key if a WTO ministerial meeting this December is to finalise a blueprint for lowering global trade barriers.
"We will not be able to get to services or industrial tariffs or development unless we can untie the Gordian knot of agriculture. And the only way to untie it is for the European Union now to come forward with a substantial market access proposal," Portman told reporters.
Asked if it was realistic to expect the EU to improve its offer, given tensions between member states over Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson's existing proposal, Portman said: "I believe it's very realistic. I do hope that member states understand the significance of the current situation."
He urged the EU to present an improved offer when negotiations resume in Geneva next week.
However, France, the staunchest defender of the EU's generous subsidies to farmers and its high tariffs on imports of farm produce from outside the bloc, has called a high-level EU meeting on Tuesday to discuss the WTO talks. Paris is expected to vent its fears that Europe is offering too much on agriculture in order to secure a global trade deal.
"We are in a situation where unless we can unlock the deadlock in agriculture, we can not see a successful ... round. I know there are political pressures that are strong," Portman said. "In the United States we have had to face up to some and will continue to because we believe in Doha, and I know that my colleagues will try and do the same thing."
At the Doha conference held in November 2001, the WTO agreed to try to lower barriers to business around the globe, with the aim of lifting millions of people out of poverty by boosting trade.