China must do more to unlock WTO impasse - EU

By Crispian Balmer

PARIS, April 14 (Reuters) - China must do more to help unlock global trade negotiations but Brazil has shown encouraging signs that it is open to a deal, European Union trade chief Peter Mandelson said on Monday.

Trade ministers from around the world are expected to gather in Geneva next month for a decisive attempt to break the deadlock that has beset the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of negotiations for a global trade deal.

Mandelson said China, the world's new export powerhouse, had to bring more to the table.

"I hope it lives up to its responsibility and makes a more generous set of offers than has been the case to date," he told a conference, adding that he would travel to China next week to discuss the negotiations.

"It simply will not fly for China to maintain a position that having relatively recently joined the WTO and brought down tariffs as part of that accession, it no longer has a commitment to make further tariff cuts in this round," he said.

"China has gained a huge amount from the international trading system. The rest of the world expects China to pay back into the global trading system some of the broad gains it has made."

China joined the WTO in 2001 and as a newcomer it can claim special treatment in the Doha round, potentially helping it avoid some of the immediate commitments to cut tariffs.

The Doha round was launched, also in 2001, in the hope of helping developing countries export their way out of poverty and giving the global economy a boost.