A dispute erupted at the outset of the world trade talks in Geneva yesterday as Peter Mandelson, the European Union’s top negotiator, attempted to kickstart the proceedings with an offer of a bigger cut in European farm tariffs.

The proposal to reduce farm tariffs by 60 per cent - up from the existing offer of 54 per cent -was dismissed by Brazil as “mere propaganda” as clear dividing lines surfaced between the richer countries and the advanced developing nations.

Mr Mandelson’s spokesman described the proposal as a considerable advance that would inject momentum into the talks. In return, the EU would expect the developing world to make reciprocal concessions.

Trade ministers from 35 countries are meeting in Geneva for a final attempt to save the Doha Round of trade negotiations, which began in 2001 and are at risk of being shelved as the end of the Bush presidency approaches in the US.

Mr Mandelson’s initiative also failed to impress diplomats from some developing nations, who said the EU was simply producing the largest figure from concessions it has already made.

Anne-Marie Idrac, the French Trade Minister said “Was there new progress, new percentages? The answer is no.”

Michel Barnier, the French Agriculture Minister, said that no EU state would be prepared to accept new proposals. In the run-up to this week’s make-or-break negotiations, the French Government insisted that it would accept no further concessions on the European farm support regime. According to the French negotiators, the new number put forward by Mr Mandelson reflected the inclusion of tropical products in the calculations.

Earlier, Mr Mandelson said that Europe expected that it would be a “net loser” in the Doha Round, but it was prepared to offer more than others in return for “political must-haves”. He said that Europe was not prepared to allow large tariff cuts in cars and textiles if tariff protection in the same sectors in the developing world remained unchanged.

“A limited number of developing countries must accept tariff cuts,” Mr Mandelson, the European Trade Commissioner, said. “They must be real. These cuts must provide some new market access in practice. That is the political bottom line,” he said. He has been criticised by France and Ireland, where proposals for further cuts to farm support are opposed bitterly by powerful agricultural lobbies.

John McGuinness, the Irish Trade Minister, said that the option of vetoing a trade deal remained.

Mohamed Rachid, the Egyptian Trade Minister, said that Egypt had benefited from EU farm subsidies because it was a net importer of food and EU surpluses had provided a supply of subsidised food. Yet he supported cuts in EU subsidies, even though Egypt would suffer. “The distortion in the market place created by decades of very heavy intervention to support agriculture has deprived places like Africa of serious investment in agribusiness,” he said.

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