Behind the smiles, the US and Europe are set for tough talks

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and US Trade Representative Rob Portman met in Paris on Thursday to discuss their subsidies to farmers.

But in the run-up to the three days of talks, both men said they would make no concessions until others do the same.

The stalemate on agriculture may wreck World Trade Organization (WTO) plans.

The WTO's Doha round of talks resumes in Hong Kong in December with the aim of delivering an agreement on free trade by 2006.

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But business groups have warned the negotiations could collapse without a basic accord to cut duties on agricultural imports and subsidies to farmers.

'Closer together'

Mr Mandelson said the talks had produced some "better ideas".

"We are working from the same starting point, which was not previously the case," he said.

DOHA ROUND: A BRIEF HISTORY Nov 2001: Doha Development Agenda agreed in Qatar Sep 2003: Cancun summit collapses over farm trade Aug 2004: Geneva framework agreement revives talks Dec 2005: WTO ministerial meeting due in Hong Kong World trade timeline

Mr Portman said he was "optimistic we are making the sort of progress that we need to meet our tight deadlines. We have come closer together".

On Wednesday, Mr Portman told the Senate agriculture committee in Washington that the US was already the most open developed country and would benefit the most from bold trade liberalisation.

He added: "However, we will not consider changes to our own programmes unless the other WTO members commit to open their markets to our goods and agree to reduce their own subsidy and trade-distorting programmes."

But the EU considers that it has already made big concessions by reforming its Common Agricultural Policy, so that farmers now receive a single payment instead of subsidies linked to the quantity of food produced.

On Monday, Mr Mandelson said at the European Parliament in Brussels that any accord reached in December would have to include "a strong component of agricultural liberalisation throughout the developed world".

He said the EU would do its share, but member nations "will simply not accept further first moves from the EU which are pocketed without parallel moves by others".

The Paris talks will be widened to include officials from Brazil and India on Friday.