US rebuffs European plan to invigorate Doha

WASHINGTON, Nov 27 (Reuters) US officials on Monday passed on a European plan to inject new life into stalled world trade talks, saying they would stick to informal discussions they've been holding since the Doha Round collapsed in July.

Gretchen Hamel, spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, said that U.S. negotiators continued to hold informal meetings with trade partners, adding that they were cool to a proposal from European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to hold a small ministerial meeting before the end of the year.

''As recently as the APEC meeting in Hanoi, trade ministers agreed that quiet conversations were likely to yield more positive and promising results than a new ministerial gathering,'' she said, referring to a meeting earlier this month of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation bloc.

''We continue to share this view,'' she said.

A ministerial meeting could signal that the round, which broke down in July after five years of talks, largely due to an impasse over farm trade, would soon be formally resumed.

Developing countries want rich nations like the United States and those in Europe to slash generous farm subsidies, while the United States say countries like Brazil and India need to do more in cutting tariffs for farm goods.

In recent weeks, officials at the World Trade Organization have been pushing for renewed efforts on the round, beginning lower-level technical work on negotiations. But the WTO says the round can't be restarted in earnest until all major players make more concessions on things like farm subsidies.

Many people believe that the round will fail if no progress can be made by March, just a few months before the Bush administration's trade-negotiating powers lapse in July.

Democrats, who have opposed free trade deals in recent years, could be reticent to renew that authority.

Also in July, U.S. lawmakers are set to overhaul legislation that controls agricultural policy, including farm subsidies that have fueled much of the debate in Doha talks.

Reuters DH VP0240