The WTO talks broke down in Geneva after the United States and India failed to agree on proposals for measures to help poor farmers.

The US Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than three million businesses and organizations, lamented the setback.

"The breakdown of these talks is bad news for the world's businesses, workers, farmers and most importantly the poor," Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive Tom Donohue said in a statement.

Delegates to WTO talks said negotiations stumbled on proposals for measures to protect poor farmers that would impose a special tariff on certain agricultural goods in the event of an import surge or price fall.

The world's economic superpower, the United States, and India, one of the world's biggest emerging economies, were sharply divided over a proposed special safeguard mechanism (SSM) in the agriculture sector.

India and some other developing wanted the SSM to kick in at a lower import surge level than had been proposed in a bid to protect their millions of poor farmers from starvation.

Others wanted it to take effect at a higher rate so as not to hurt exporters.

"It's ironic that this blow to the Doha Round came from two of the chief beneficiaries of worldwide trade. India and China are emerging powers, but with great power comes great responsibility," Donohue said.

"They missed an opportunity to show leadership as key players in the global trading system."

Ministers had struggled for more than a week to reach consensus on subsidy levels and import tariffs for a new deal under the WTO's Doha Round, which has repeatedly foundered since its launch in the Qatari capital in 2001.

The round was aimed at further liberalizing trade and lifting the world's developing countries out of poverty.

"The real losers today are the world's poorest countries, whose citizens understand that expanding trade is the right path toward growth," Donohue said.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) also said China and India were the culprits.

"Time and again at the Geneva meetings, China and India reiterated how they could not lower their barriers, but insisted we must lower ours," NAM president John Engler said in a statement.

Engler called the special safeguard mechanism demanded by China and India for their agricultural sectors "the final straw."

"That mechanism would have violated one of the most basic tenets of the world trading system: nations do not violate their tariff bindings by raising tariffs above the legally bound levels. Once an exception is made, no matter how small, the entire world trading system could begin to unravel."

Engler called for a "cooling-off period" before further talks are held.

Both groups underscored the need for the trade liberalization talks to continue.

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