The following issues are central to the deadlock in the Doha Round negotiations among the 148 World Trade Organisation governments.
These are judged to be the most damaging to fair trade because they weigh on global prices and penalise producers in poor nations. The European Union, which relies heavily on subsidies, has been ready to discuss their elimination but dates vary for particular products.
Other countries want them halted by 2010. In exchange, Brussels wants an end to export credits and food aid by Washington that are also seen as undermining poor farmers as well as tougher rules for state export companies in Canada and Australia.
In return, Washington wants Japan and the EU to make a cut of around 80 percent on the grounds that they are allowed to spend more under current WTO rules.
The United States has also proposed limiting to 2.5 percent so-called "Blue Box" support, which is not linked to production and is seen as less harmful to trade. These proposals have been criticised as insufficient by developing countries.
Brussels also wants to keep higher tariffs on around 160 farm products that are under WTO rules it has classed as "sensitive." Net food importing countries such as Japan and Switzerland, which also want to protect vulnerable or culturally important parts of their farming, oppose the idea of a ceiling on duties.