Clearly he was saving his powder for the next negotiating battle in the GATT talks.

If the GATT talks break down, the consequences could be dire.

But negotiators keep plodding on, as the GATT talks move into their seventh year.

Reducing the enormous farm subsidies has been considered one of the most difficult areas in the GATT talks.

Indeed, when the group tried to raise many of these issues during the GATT talks, they were rebuffed by the third world in particular.

This confusion comes at a terrible time, with the GATT talks in deep trouble.

Such a preliminary deal would still need approval from the rest of the 112 nations in the GATT talks.

However, I fear that the GATT talks will go in the opposite direction.

The stumbling block in the GATT talks is the level of subsidies to oil seed.

If the GATT talks fail, he added, "there is some risk that the world economic system will be in turmoil.