There has been conflict over trade tariffs

The US government's decision in March to impose tariffs of up to 30% on imported steel has led to a barrage of complaints to the WTO.

Then, just two months later, President George W Bush signed into law a bill awarding US farmers up to $180bn in subsidies over the next decade.

The EU has warned of retaliation, while the 18-member Cairns Group of agricultural exporters which includes Australia and Canada, has criticised the farm subsidies.

Lukewarm backing

But US trade negotiators got an endorsement at the Paris meeting from the European Union's Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy.

"Although a few signals have been given in the other direction, I believe the US policy remains anti-protectionist and pro-trade," Mr Lamy told a news conference.

He was speaking after a meeting with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and his deputy Peter Allgeier at which, he said, they had reassured they support free trade.

But Mr Lamy qualified his remarks by saying it was critical to know "whether they can speak in the name of the United States."

Critics of the Bush administration, including some fellow-members of the Republican Party, have accused the US President of putting domestic politics ahead of trade policy.

Steel-making districts and farming states are thought to be critical battlegrounds in the Republican Party's campaign to regain control of the Senate in mid-term elections due in November.