the expiry in mid-2007 of the U.S. president's authority to do trade deals with minimal Congressional scrutiny. Brazil -- which has a booming agricultural sector -- and other nations including the United States and Australia complain that the EU's proposals to cut its barriers for farm imports are too timid. Brussels insists it has gone as far as it can, given the resistance of some EU members such as France to more concessions. The EU says the ball is in now in the court of developing countries, led by Brazil, to make an offer on removing barriers for industrial exports and services, the kind of gains that European companies want from the WTO round. Mandelson said after Saturday's meeting that there had been discussion of a potential offer by Brazil on industrial goods. "I recognise that there are ideas, there are parameters to that discussion. It was useful to explore those with Celso this morning," he said.
