Rich and poor countries remained at loggerheads as to who must make the next move and officials said it would become clear on Thursday whether it was worth pursuing the talks.

"What I see is big divergences still. We'll see during the day if it is possible to bridge these gaps," Argentina's chief negotiator Nestor Stancanelli said as he arrived at WTO headquarters on the shores of Lake Geneva.

The United States and European Union say it is up to big emerging countries like India, China and Brazil to respond after Washington said it would slash its contentious farm subsidies and the EU fleshed out an offer to cut its agricultural tariffs.

But the emerging countries say Washington and Brussels are still not doing enough to help poor farmers in the developing world in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha round talks, which are supposed to promote development.

"The negotiations are locked but the key for unlocking them is in the hands of the emerging economies," Adolfo Urso, Italy's most senior trade official, told Reuters.

"NOTHING TO GIVE"

Ministers from seven key WTO members -- Australia, Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Japan and the United States -- adjourned the talks in the early hours of Thursday after some 12 hours, saying they had made "some progress."

Indian negotiator Kamal Nath said: "We broke on that -- let's see what more we can do. I'm very clear what we cannot do. I cannot negotiate livelihood security of Indian farmers. ... I cannot negotiate anything which leads to no investment in Indian agriculture,"

"There is nothing which I have in my pocket to give. I'm waiting to see how much less distortions the United States is willing to do now," he told a news conference.

U.S. President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed on Thursday the need for trade powers to contribute to a breakthrough in the Doha talks, the White House said.

On Tuesday U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab sought to get the talks moving by announcing the United States would cut its trade-distorting farm subsidies to $15 billion.

Developing countries say this is meaningless as current outlays are nearer $7 billion thanks to soaring food prices. But Washington says prices go up and down and the proposed level would have meant real cuts in support in 7 of the past 10 years.

Nath had scant comfort for "high-cost" U.S. and European businesses lobbying for a deal to stop developing nations carving out entire industrial sectors from market opening.

"In a globalizing world where competitiveness is at the heart of globalization if you're non-competitive you can't seek refuge under an agreement of the WTO," Nath said.

"The future is that cars are not going to be made in Stuttgart or Detroit -- they're going to be made in Asia."

SARKOZY CONCERN

The Doha talks, launched in late 2001, came under attack from another quarter when French President Nicolas Sarkozy, concerned about cutting EU farm tariffs for little return, said he could not sign the current deal.

"I have no reaction except to say that the commission is charged with negotiating here at the WTO on behalf of all member states and we will continue to do so," EU trade chief Peter Mandelson, who has sparred frequently with Sarkozy over the talks, told reporters.

Business lobbyists expressed concern at the fallout from possible failure of the current talks, which could encourage protectionist sentiment and block trade growth in a troubled world economy -- Japan's exports unexpectedly shrank in June for the first time in nearly five years, data showed on Thursday.

"From talking to negotiators it's clear there's quite a lot of stuff in the back pocket -- we need to find a way of teasing it out," said Gary Campkin, head of the international group of the British employers' federation CBI.

"It's frustrating for business to know there's this stuff out there and the deal if people put their minds to it is doable," he said.

The talks were originally due to run until Saturday but delegates say they will either flop before then because of the deep differences or drag on well into next week.

(Additional reporting by Laura MacInnis, Robin Pomeroy and William Schomberg, editing by Mary Gabriel)