TOP negotiators from the EU and the US will meet in Brussels today in a further push for a breakthrough in the world trade talks in which agriculture is still a key issue.

Six of the top trade representatives of the World Trade Organisation have proposed to complete negotiations on a treaty to liberalise global commerce by the end of the year, a joint statement in India said.

Top trade officials from the US, Europe, Brazil and India said they were making progress as they began a second day of meetings today aimed at reviving negotiations on a new global trade treaty.

US President George Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin sat down today for lunch and informal talks on ongoing nuclear disputes with North Korea and Iran, as the US leader paid an unusual visit to Moscow en route to a summit of Asian leaders.

European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson criticised Australia today for taking the US side in stalled World Trade Organisation talks on global trade liberalisation.

Global commerce talks at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva collapsed today as top powers failed to agree on steps towards liberalising trade in farm and manufactured goods.

Renewed efforts to revive global commerce talks appeared in trouble today as top trading powers said they had failed so far to make progress on thorny issues such as US and European farm support.

US President George Bush and Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin clashed over the conflict in the Middle East and the liberalisation of world trade in a chilly prelude to the G8 summit in St Petersburg in Russia today.

World trade talks reached an apparent breakthrough on the most contentious issue of the six-day session today, with an agreement that wealthy countries would eliminate farm export subsidies by 2013.

Trade negotiators failed to tackle the toughest issues in a draft agreement circulated at world trade talks today, showing that only modest progress was being made as the meeting entered its final hours.

A bloc of agricultural nations that favours free trade has accused the European Union of holding the current round of world trade talks hostage.

The European Union has offered to reduce average agricultural tariffs by 46%, its steepest ever farm tariff cuts, in a proposal aimed at breaking a deadlock in world trade talks.

Efforts to liberalise world trade are stalling because of EU intransigence over reforming its farm aid, ministers said today as they wrapped up a fruitless week of meetings in Geneva.

The European Union’s top trade negotiator won overwhelming support from EU governments today to stay the course in world trade talks, and he urged member nations not to lose their nerve.

With just two months remaining before a deadline for a framework global trade treaty, ministers from the largest trade powers will gather today to tackle once more the thorny issue of US and EU farm subsidies.

Ministers from the largest trade powers gather in Switzerland tomorrow to tackle once more the thorny issue of US and EU farm subsidies, with just two months remaining before a deadline for a framework global trade treaty.

Europe and the US moved closer to a world trade showdown over plane subsidies, as Airbus said it had received “legally binding” government funding pledges for its newly-launched A350 jet programme.

The Bush administration says it has successfully completed negotiations with Saudi Arabia over the country’s application to join the World Trade Organisation.

The Bush administration said today it would bring a trade case alleging the European Unionis providing illegal subsidies to Airbus, the major competitor to US-based Boeing Co.

The European Union has made a new offer to the US to cut government aid to Airbus in a bid to resolve the simmering dispute over subsidies to the European aeroplane maker and its US rival Boeing, an EU official said today.

The EU and the US agreed today to settle their dispute over Airbus and Boeing subsidies through bilateral talks and not at the World Trade Organisation.

The day after their theoretical deadline, trade negotiators on today continued painfully slow moves toward a framework for a new global trade treaty intended to boost the world economy.

Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong leaves for Washington and London tomorrow amid a growing debate in south east Asia on whether US help is required to protect busy Asian shipping lanes from terrorist attacks.

US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said today the US was willing to eliminate export subsidies, provided major world economies like the European Union and Japan are willing to do the same.

The Bush administration has requested formation of a World Trade Organisation dispute panel as the US pressed ahead with a case against the European Union over genetically modified food.

US President George Bush has offered to extend US free-trade benefits already enjoyed by Israel and Jordan to other Middle East nations within a decade.