European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson urged World Trade Organisation (WTO) nations today to renew talks later this year following their collapse this week.
Speaking to the WTO's trade negotiating committee, Peter Mandelson said the world economy had lost a much-needed "insurance policy" with the failure of the marathon negotations to liberalise international commerce.
"So, in the autumn, after a summer of reflection, we must renew our dialogue, nurture our relationships, talk like adults about where we go from here," he said.
"My team and I look forward to returning to Geneva, not to take up where we left off, but to make sure what we have achieved is not entirely lost," he said.
Negotiations broke down yesterday over a dispute between the United States and emerging economic powers India and China over the extent to which developing countries may protect themselves against agricultural imports.
China today blamed "selfish" wealthy Western nations for the latest failure to conclude long-running talks to free up global trade, while Asian rival Japan pointed the finger at the region's emerging giants.
China's official news agency, Xinhua, said the negotiations at World Trade Organisation headquarters in Geneva collapsed ultimately because the United States and the European Union were unwilling to scrap huge subsidies they pay their farmers.
But Japan upbraided China and India, as growing economic powers, for not shouldering greater responsibilities in the WTO.
Xinhua said the root cause was that rich countries cared too much about their own interests and too little about those of developing nations.
Not only were Washington and Brussels unwilling to face down their farm lobbies, but they put huge pressure on poor countries to slash tariffs on industrial imports and throw open their financial services markets to Western banks and insurers.
"This selfishness and short-sighted behaviour has directly caused the failure of this WTO ministerial meeting, which will have a number of serious consequences," Xinhua said in a commentary.
A failure to revive the talks and clinch a trade deal would raise doubts about the ability of the international community to tackle other complex issues such as climate change and soaring food and energy prices in a global framework, Xinhua added.
But the Japanese government said China was less sinned-against than sinning.
"Frankly, I'd have to wonder whether China and India weighed their words and actions commensurate with their responsibility and how much they considered the overall global economy as they focused too much on their own interests," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference.
Both India and China now wield more economic influence than they did when the trade talks were launched in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in 2001, Mr Machimura told a news conference.
"In other words, their responsibilities have also grown bigger, too," he said. "I hope China and India will address international negotiations like the WTO talks with a sense of how big a role they play in the world economy."
China, too, gently chided India for the way the talks ended in what Commerce Minister Chen Deming called "tragic failure".
Chen expressed his regret that the talks had foundered over differences between two countries - a reference to the United States and India - over a proposal to help poor farmers cope with import surges.
China, for its part, had displayed flexibility in a range of trade areas, Chen said in a statement.
The recriminations reflect the many fault-lines running through the WTO talks, which must reconcile the different political and economic priorities of the body's 153 members.
China was ready to intensify its bilateral links with other WTO members, especially developing countries, Chen said.
The number of preferential trade deals involving Asia-Pacific countries has exploded in recent years, largely due to the deadlock in the WTO, and experts expect the trend to continue.
Chile and Australia signed the latest two-way deal on Wednesday in Canberra, shortly after the WTO talks broke down.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia would let the dust settle on global talks and then try to work a way forward.
"With world trade talks, the job is never done. It's deeply disappointing, but we know that both Chile and Australia will be at the vanguard and the forefront of continuing to try to push the international community," Smith told reporters.