Negotiators from leading trade powers will meet in Brussels this week for last-gasp talks to revive the sagging Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks. Unless they achieve an unexpected breakthrough, the stuttering six-year talks are likely to be put in cold storage this summer and could be formally abandoned as international diplomats switch their priority to carbon emissions deals.

The European Union, the United States, India and Brazil, dubbed the G4, will try to iron out some of the main differences between developed and developing nations at a two-day meeting starting in the Belgian capital on Thursday. Talks on the size of cuts in farm subsidies and tariffs are still deadlocked, to the disappointment of poorer food producers. At the same time, pressure is growing from the developed world for nonagricultural aspects of the trade round to be put on the table and for developing countries to consider what concessions they might make.

Before the discussions, representatives of industrial countries will meet at a two-day meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. Many are under domestic pressure not to accept a one-way deal. One EU official said: “Increasingly, it is emerging that any agricultural agreement must be balanced by movement on nonagricultural items. It is a complex debate.”

During the French presidential election debate, Nicolas Sarkozy called for Peter Man-delson, the European Trade Commissioner, to be removed from negotiations because he had offered too much. Mr Sarkozy’s victory will make it harder for the EU to make any further concessions on food tariffs. The new Congress in the United States also seems doubtful.

Depending on the outcome of this week’s talks, the G4 has scheduled two further meetings in June. If there is no prospect by the end of June of an agreement, efforts probably will be shelved for two years.

In 2001, America and the EU insisted on the global trade talks taking the old-fashioned form of an all-embracing interlocking negotiation. However, there are signs that Western thinking has moved on, along with developing countries’ attitudes.

Last week Congress and the White House agreed new American rules for trade talks, including enforcement of minimum standards of treatment of workers and insistence on minimum environmental standards. The rules will apply to bilateral trade talks with Peru and other South American nations, which are seen in Washington as more controllable than multilateral WTO deals. The new rules cannot be applied to the Doha talks.

Developed nations are widely expected to give greater priority to bilateral trade deals, regardless of whether a cut-down Doha Round is agreed. However, critics say bilateral deals are a means to control trade rather than to open it up.

Sunset for trade talks

Trail of disappointment:

Nov 1999 WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle to start new trade round breaks up in wake of antiglobalisation riots

Nov 2001 “Development round” finally launched in Doha, Qatar, chosen for its remote location

Sept 2003 Meeting at Cancún, Mexico, to decide framework of agreement collapses after developing countries insist on development priority and walk out

July 2004 Geneva: Talks get back on track after West agrees to discuss agriculture before making market-opening demands

Dec 2005 Hong Kong: some issues agreed, including phasing out of export subsidies, but contingent on elusive general agreement

July 2006 Geneva: Key party talks to break deadlock collapse in recrimination between US and India. Formal talks suspended

Feb 2007 WTO says negotiations resumed “across the board”

May 2007 France’s Nicolas Sarkozy condemns EU for being too soft; US Congress agrees new trade formula designed for bilateral deals. WTO issues warning against failure

Issues at stake:

- Developed country farm subsidies

- EU import tariffs on some foods

- Opening of developing country markets

- Copyrights

- Guarantees for foreign investors

Explore Economics

• Pre-Budget Report 2009

• Budget 2009

• World Economic Forum

• The Times MPC

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive