Negotiators meet to resolve problems blocking Gatt deal

A high-level committee is meeting in Geneva tomorrow to define the outstanding problems threatening the Gatt agreement on trade - which international negotiators believed only two months ago had been rescued.

Since November, negotiators have been trying to sort out the remaining problems in the Uruguay round and conclude a vast range of trade-freeing agreements that should, proponents say, boost US and EC gross domestic product by at least 1 per cent.

Because the talks over agriculture - in essence, an American attempt to force the French to liberalise their farm sector - were so bitter, there was a widespread assumption that the remaining ends could be tied up before the Clinton team moved in this week.

Many problems are minor, but some big differences remain and powerful lobby groups will do their best to ensure no agreement is reached.

The main sticking point is tariffs. The Americans want to abolish duties on more products than the Europeans will accept, including beer and furniture. The EC says, in turn, that the US must cut its peak tariff on textiles from 37 per cent, and the US textile lobby is resisting fiercely, afraid it will be left hopelessly exposed to Far Eastern competition.

There are other issues. The Americans are resisting the liberalisation of maritime transport rules which, for example, ban foreign ships from carrying goods within the US.

Some European countries do not want their telecommunications markets to be opened up, while the French are unwilling to lift their restriction on the number of foreign programmes shown on television. Away from the EC-US axis, the Japanese and Koreans are hanging on to their right to restrict rice imports.

The key date is 1 March, the deadline by which a more or less complete package must be presented to the US Congress under the 'fast-track' procedure that allows the House to accept or reject it - but not to amend it.