Key Trade Ministers Fail to Achieve Breakthrough on Global Trade Deal (2/2)


On the other hand, the U.S. and European Union want countries such as Brazil and India to further open their booming domestic markets to manufactured goods and agricultural imports.

Australia's trade minister, Warren Truss, says Washington and Brussels should not be expected to make all the concessions.

"We can't expect the Americans or the Europeans to do it all. India will have to do something. Australia will have to do something. The world will have to develop a spirit of compromise to achieve something that is very important."

In another sign of the distance still to be traveled, India's commerce and industries minister Kamal Nath told reporters his country will not compromise the interests of millions of its subsistence farmers.

U.S. President Bush has special powers to negotiate a trade deal. But those so-called "fast track" powers expire June 30 unless Congress extends them.

Some negotiators say an international agreement is needed before then in order to encourage U.S. lawmakers to extend the president's authority, which would allow him to present the Congress with a trade pact for a straight up or down vote.