The United States dealt a heavy blow to struggling global trade talks on Tuesday, saying the race to produce a working deal text by Easter could do 'more harm than good'.

The negotiations are aimed at opening up world trade for the benefit of all nations, but they are stalled on a series of sticking points over tariffs, subsidies and market access.

'Texts are an important tool, but if we don't quickly solve some of the problems we are encountering in our work, we will have to reassess whether tabling new texts in late April risks more harm than good,' said Michael Punke, US Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), in a meeting aimed at completing a full deal by year-end and a working text in less than a month.

US disputes with China constitute some of the main factors holding up a deal in the so-called Doha round. But WTO director general Pascal Lamy has pressed ahead with a plan to have a text ready by Easter for government ministers to discuss.

China and the United States, however, were as far apart as ever at the end of this informal session of the WTO's Trade Negotiations Committee, which has special responsibility for the decade-old Doha talks and reports to the WTO's General Council.

The United States repeated demands for zero tariffs on certain industrial good imports. China said such a move would cover more than half its imports in that sector and 'goes beyond the capacity of a developing nation,' delegates said.

Punke expressed the reasons for his concerns about a new text to reporters after the meeting. 'Any text should come from the members and should not be imposed,' he said - a reference to fears that the WTO chief and chairmen of negotiating groups might produce a compromise text that they have devised.

He said his position was widely supported in the room.

Lamy insisted that he and the chairmen of key working groups were 'committed to working in a bottom-up way.'

India was among the countries that later confirmed support for the USposition, saying it would object to any text showing 'imagination by chairs.'

On Monday a US business group said the chances of reaching a Doha deal this year were fading fast unless world leaders became personally involved.

One delegate taking a break from the meeting said he doubted success this year, but that saving face for the WTO was important. 'It will be about how failure is framed,' he said.

Another, speaking after the meeting had ended, raised the prospect of a 'zombie' round of talks continuing for years into the future and going nowhere.

Lamy gave delegates in the meeting one of his starkest warnings yet that time was running out for Doha.

'With less than a month to go (to Easter) are we on track to meet this target?' he said in a text of his statement released by the WTO. 'In all honesty I must tell you we are not.'

Lamy has repeatedly said progress is too slow.

Diplomats say a deal this year is crucial because elections in some key countries, including the United States, could raise obstacles in 2012 and because the talks are already years late in reaching a conclusion.-Reuters