USDA's Schafer sees WTO "impasse," not collapse

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - World trade talks may be at an impasse rather than a collapse, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said on Tuesday, hoping for further progress toward freer trade.

Nine days of negotiations by trade ministers broke down in Geneva earlier in the day. Some officials said it would take years to revive negotiations.

"It's an impasse. I'm not sure it's a collapse," Schafer told a news conference via telephone. "I think we're going to continue discussions and hopefully we can see our way through some of these issues and make some progress."

Discussions foundered over steps by developing countries to reduce barriers to farm imports. The United States said it would cut trade-distorting domestic subsidies if other nations opened their markets to farm products.

Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, said "other nations should have been more reasonable" in light of U.S. willingness to accept domestic cuts.

"If India, China, and other advanced developing countries want the benefits of expanded trade, they have to abandon protectionism and negotiate in good faith," said Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the Republican leader on the Finance Committee, which oversees trade issues.

Bob Stallman, leader of the 6 million-member American Farm Bureau Federation, blamed India and China for the "lost opportunity."

(Reporting by Charles Abbott)