But countries remain far apart on the issue that will make or break the Doha round: how far to lower barriers to business in manufactured products, services and, crucially, farm goods.

With 70 percent of the world's poor dependent on agriculture, increasingly assertive developing nations insist they will block the Doha round unless rich states get serious about cutting farm subsidies and opening their protected markets.

"Those that have more should be in a position to listen to those that have less," says Thomas Aquino, the Philippine undersecretary for international trade.

"Farming is the first industry of America -- the industry that feeds us, the industry that clothes us, and the industry that increasingly provides more of our energy," Bush said. "The success of America's farmers and ranchers is essential to the success of the American economy."

Commenting on the farm bill's passage through the US Senate, Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde said, "the United States preaches free trade but then are the most obscene protectionists." For its part, Brazil criticised the bill for being detrimental to international trade, while Mercosur member Paraguay described the new farm legislation as "a big step backward" in meeting the WTO targets. A top farm group official of the fourth member of the South American bloc -- Uruguay -- accused Washington of "telling two different stories" at international fora, adding that the US "clamours against subsidies but, when push comes to shove, it opts for protectionism."