The world's main trading nations remain divided over a global trade deal despite a compromise plan put forward by the European Union to rescue the stalled Doha trade round, the EU's trade chief said on Friday. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said it was not clear how trading powers could resolve differences over the key sticking point - how to open up trade in industrial goods.
Senior negotiators from the United States, EU, Brazil, India, China, Australia and Japan who met at the World Trade Organisation on Wednesday to discuss the EU's plan moved no closer to agreement, he said. "I'm not prepared to risk losing the gains for the economy, for development and for the rules-based system without a serious attempt to identify a viable compromise," De Gucht told reporters after a meeting of EU trade ministers in Brussels.