France said on Wednesday it would not accept EU trade chief Peter Mandelson laying any more farm concessions on the table just as he sat down for urgent talks on a global trade deal, Reuters reported. The move by Paris was a new attempt to tie Mandelson's hands, coming a day after it failed to persuade EU countries to exert more control, saying he had overstepped limits in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations. "France ... cannot accept that the EU's negotiator in any way raises the agriculture dossier at any of the upcoming negotiating sessions in Geneva," the French farm ministry said in a statement. Nevertheless, in Geneva, Mandelson and ministers from the United States, Brazil, India and Australia continued trying to bridge differences -- many of them over farm trade -- that stand in the way of a global deal being struck in December. "We continue to negotiate ... if we were really not going to talk about farm issues then we would have had to stop," said one official involved in the discussions as the ministers held a working dinner. Earlier, French Trade Minister Christine Lagarde told parliament that France was unable to support Brussels on its proposals which include a cut in subsidy ceilings and lower tariffs for the sector that Paris has long protected. A spokesman for Mandelson said he had no comment.
