Geneva, April 27:

The United States will not make a new offer to cut subsidies in crunch World Trade Organisation (WTO) farm trade talks unless it gets a guarantee that the European Union (EU) will slash its customs duties, a senior US diplomat said yesterday.

Peter Allgeier, the US ambassador to the 149-government WTO, said that Washington had put nothing new on the table, despite earlier comments by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson who had said that he welcomed US signals that it would be prepared to negotiate further.

“We’ve always said that the offer we put on the table in October on domestic support was conditional on other members improving their offers on market access,” Allgeier said. However, he said that the US would be prepared to talk. “We are ready to negotiate. The offer we made in October is not a take it or leave it offer,” he said, “It depends on what we see on the table.”

Earlier in Brussels, Mandelson had said, “If the circumstances allow — if key partners put something worthwhile on the table — the EU will be prepared to further enhance our current agricultural offer. I will waste no opportunity to test this willingness in the coming period.” Brussels and Washington have been trading blame for the sluggish pace of the talks.