World trade talks collapse after row over farm subsidies

The world trade talks in Geneva have collapsed, after a row over farm subsidies caused a split between ministers at the WTO negotiations yesterday.

The issue had been a sticking point particularly with China and India, but US negotiators said they were unwilling to sacrifice farm subsidies for a world trade deal.

Already, EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson had given a number of concessions on farming, proposing a reduction in tariffs that would have opened up the EU to more imports.

Mr Mandelson called the failure a 'profound disappointment' but distanced the EU from the split saying it was 'pushed towards failure'.

He said: "As well as reforming agricultural subsidies, we aimed to give genuine protection to farming communities where this was needed because of poverty or a lack of competitiveness.

"We aimed to do this in a way that did not result in a significant proportion of trade facing higher tariffs rather than lower.