THE US has accused China and India of threatening to sabotage an emerging deal to liberalise global trade.
Diplomats warned last night that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks aimed at cutting farm and industrial tariffs were once again at risk of collapse because of a bitter dispute between the three countries.
"We are very much concerned about the direction that a couple of countries are taking," said US trade representative Susan Schwab during a break in the marathon talks taking place in Geneva.
The tense atmosphere inside the WTO headquarters was matched outside the talks where interest groups such as the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) continue to accuse the EU negotiators of selling out farmers.
However, in an interview with The Irish Times EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel responded by launching an attack on the IFA. Ms Boel accused the IFA of acting in "bad faith" and distributing "totally misleading" figures to the public on the impact of any WTO deal.
"They are still claiming that Brazil will have the right to export 1.8 million tonnes of beef into Europe. That is simply bad faith and they know it and it's not correct and these figures are totally misleading," she said.
"I must say I am very unhappy to see that the good co-operation we have had until now is jeopardised by figures like this."
Ms Boel, who regularly receives IFA delegations, said she was not threatening the IFA but needed to correct its "spin".
The IFA said it stood by its figures. "Our analysis says the price will fall to €2 and imports will ramp up to 1.8 million tonnes . . . As European production will fall, South American exports will expand rapidly," said IFA president Padraig Walshe.
India and China are resisting US demands to agree to cut tariffs in some manufacturing sectors, while New Delhi is also insisting on retaining a controversial special safeguard mechanism to protect its farmers from surges in imports. India's move to protect its farm sector has also angered many developing states that want to export to the Indian market.
The tough stance adopted by the big emerging states at the negotiations yesterday prompted David Shark, deputy US ambassador to the WTO, to warn that India and China had thrown the WTO talks into the "gravest jeopardy" since they were launched in 2001.
This latest crisis in the WTO talks emerged on day eight of gruelling negotiations between more than 30 ministers in Geneva.
New tensions also emerged within the EU with French president Nicolas Sarkozy demanding that EU trade negotiator Peter Mandelson travel to Paris to explain his negotiating position in the talks.
Mr Sarkozy has been a trenchant critic of Mr Mandelson, who he accuses of wanting to sell out European farmers in a WTO deal.
A spokesman for Mr Mandelson said he would be willing to travel to Paris but that his first commitment lay with progressing the talks in Geneva. Mr Mandeslon wasn't available at the time the Elysée scheduled a meeting for late on Sunday night, he added.
But tensions in Europe over the scale of tariff cuts being offered by Mr Mandelson in a compromise package remain high. Last night nine EU states with farming interests - including Ireland - formed an alliance to push for better terms for the EU in any deal that emerges this week. The eight other states are France, Poland, Hungary Greece, Portugal, Lithuania, Cyprus and Italy, which called a meeting last night in an effort to pile further pressure on Mr Mandelson to protect farming interests.
Tánaiste Mary Coughlan and Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith, who are representing Ireland at the WTO talks in Geneva, both attended the meeting last night.
Diplomats at the talks said last night the next 24 hours would be crucial and determine whether, after seven years, the basis for a WTO deal could be negotiated.