Tariff Impasse Would Hurt U.S.-Europe Ties, Christopher Says : Trade: Secretary asserts U.S. is unwilling to extend deadline for resolution of global talks. He calls for flexibility on both sides.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher, raising the political stakes in long-stalled world trade talks, said Wednesday that a failure to agree on broad tariff cuts in the next two weeks will severely damage the U.S.-Europe relationship that underpins world stability.

Speaking at a news conference at the European Community headquarters, Christopher said the United States is unwilling to extend the current Dec. 15 deadline for completion of the negotiations. He called for “flexibility” on both sides to resolve remaining issues.

“There will be no Dec. 16 for the Uruguay Round,” Christopher said in reference to the talks that began in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in September, 1986.

Although two earlier deadlines passed without breaking up the most ambitious tariff-reduction negotiations ever attempted, Christopher said, “We have a responsibility to do better” this time.

Christopher discussed the broad general outlines of the negotiations with Jacques Delors, president of the European Commission, and Belgian Foreign Minister Willy Claes, whose nation holds the EC’s rotating presidency for this six months, while U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor was holding nuts-and-bolts talks with Leon Brittan, the EC trade negotiator.

Kantor and Brittan planned to meet through the night, ending with a news conference today. Kantor said before he left Washington on Tuesday that he hoped to complete an outline of a final pact during two days of intensive talks in Brussels. But Christopher declined to go that far.

“The deadline for agreement is Dec. 15,” Christopher said. “I wouldn’t want to predict earlier results than that.”

A senior State Department official said Christopher’s high-profile participation in the negotiations “raises the ante” by placing the Clinton Administration’s prestige directly on the line. In addition to his news conference with Delors and Claes, Christopher granted interviews to two British-based cable TV services widely viewed across Europe.

“None of the remaining trade-offs will be easy for the major participants, but they must be made before the final deadline,” Christopher said.

Failure will damage the global economy, undermine U.S. relations with Europe and, perhaps, damage the EC itself by creating new frictions among the 12 member nations, Christopher said. Friction between the United States and the EC could have wide-ranging consequences, injuring the cohesion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other forms of transatlantic cooperation.

Although the final agreement--if it is ever completed--will cover all 116 member nations of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the key final negotiations are over disputes between the United States and the European Community, primarily about Washington’s objections to European farm subsidies that give European farmers an advantage in the global agricultural market.

The United States and the EC reached a tentative agreement last year to reduce the subsidies by 21% in talks conducted at Blair House in Washington, across the street from the White House. However, France, using the veto power wielded by all 12 EC members over Community action, blocked the agreement.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy had been scheduled to attend the two days of Kantor-Brittan talks. But his arrival was delayed by a rare snowstorm, so he did not get to Brussels until Wednesday night, delaying intensive negotiations on the key agricultural issues.

In an interview earlier this week, Prime Minister Edouard Balladur suggested that France is ready to compromise and urged the United States to do the same. Arriving in Brussels on Wednesday, Kantor said that renegotiation of the Blair House pact is out of the question.

But at his news conference, Christopher seemed to back away from that stand, at least a bit. He said all sides must exchange “flexibility for flexibility.” Asked if that applied to the Blair House agreement, he replied that he was talking about the entire negotiations.

Meanwhile, French President Francois Mitterrand said Wednesday in Bonn after talks with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl that his country is ready for compromise. He said Germany agreed to support the French position.

While most of Christopher’s meeting with Delors and Claes focused on trade, they also discussed a wide range of other issues, including Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran.

Claes said Europe hopes to “harmonize” its policy toward Iran with the United States. Last June, Christopher called on EC foreign ministers to help the United States isolate Iran internationally because of its support for terrorism. At that time, the Europeans--led by Germany and Italy, which maintain lucrative trade with Iran--showed no enthusiasm for the U.S. appeal.

Turning to Bosnia, Christopher rejected suggestions that the world community should withhold relief supplies if the Muslim-led government refuses to compromise with its Serbian and Croatian enemies.

“I do not believe humanitarian aid should be used as a lever or a pressure point on the Bosnian government,” Christopher said.