US points finger at Brazil, India in G4 collapse

WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) US officials blamed rigidity from India and Brazil for the breakdown today of talks to spur a world trade round toward completion.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told reporters via telephone from Germany that the two developing nations asked developed countries to make impossible concessions.

''We had two countries, India and Brazil, which I don't think really chose to negotiate,'' Johanns said.

The meeting in Potsdam, Germany, of Brazil, India, the United States and the European Union was billed as a chance to hammer out an agreement on trade in agricultural and manufactured goods and services that could be used a springboard for a new world trade deal this year.

REUTERS DS RAI2348