France won't sign up for WTO deal without changes, says Sarkozy

Meanwhile, a threat by France to torpedo a new global free-trade pact deepened the gloom surrounding troubled WTO negotiations Thursday, with scant progress having been made so far toward a deal.
Strains between big and small countries also emerged, adding to tension between rich and poor nations, as four days of gruelling talks produced little sign that an agreement was within reach.
Brazil’s agriculture minister, in comments published Thursday, said trade talks underway in the WTO are “pointless” and will not result in any deal that could help farmers around the world.
Reinhold Stephanes, speaking in Brasilia as the troubled trade negotiations dragged on in Geneva, told the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper: “I don’t believe in the Doha Round. This round is pointless. There is no way to achieve any results.”
His pessimism added to a sense of gloom surrounding the negotiations, which are mired in apparent intractability between industrialized states and developing nations.
Brazil, one of the key participants in the talks, is represented by Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.
Stephanes, who has only peripheral involvement in the haggling, said he saw “no objective reason” why a free-trade accord from the talks “would have a positive impact on world agriculture.” “It is very difficult, even impossible, to see the countries with trade protection and subsidies at the heart of their production structures giving that away in return for nothing.”
Instead, the liberalization of agriculture markets will be done by market forces, he predicted.
Stephanes added that he had not made his point of view known to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva because “he never asked” for his opinion.