Trade-distorting subsidies may rise so much, Europeans fear, that America will break its Uruguay-round commitments.

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But the administration still has authority to complete talks it began under the so-called Uruguay Round of global trade talks.

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In particular, it must persuade poor countries, which felt short-changed by the previous Uruguay round, that a Doha deal will be good for them.

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But the tight and rigid timetable for Doha was designed to avoid a repetition of the Uruguay round, which overran by three years and still involved eleventh-hour horse-trading.

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In the Uruguay round, pushed by America, countries agreed to cut and set ceilings on their trade-distorting agricultural subsidies.

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In Uruguay , the left-wing opposition candidate, Tabare Vazquez, won nearly 40% in the first round of the presidential election.

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Industrial countries certainly could do more to lower their trade barriers, but they have generally followed the schedule of reforms negotiated in the Uruguay Round (which admittedly phase out most textile quotas only at the end of a ten-year transition period).

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