India, Brazil get tough with US on world trade

India and Brazil lead many developing countries in mounting pressure on the US for swift conclusion of the latest round of WTO talks.

India and Brazil led a number of developing countries on Monday in mounting the pressure on the US for a swift conclusion to the latest round of world trade talks.

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"We are stepping into a critical phase of negotiations," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told journalists in Geneva, where leaders of the G20 group of developing countries gathered at the World Trade Organization's headquarters.

They repeated their call for "real cuts" by the US in the farm subsidies to well below the $ 22-million cap currently on the table, or risk missing another deadline to conclude the Doha round of negotiations launched six years ago.

Success of the negotiations on agriculture remained key to reaching a deal by the end of the year, the group said.

The demand comes ahead of what some regard as a make-or-break Potsdam meeting in Germany next week between Brazil, India, the United States and the European Union.