GATT Talks’ Collapse Feared; Deadline Near : Trade: The European Community’s insistence on agriculture protections threatens the negotiations.

BRUSSELS —  Talks to revamp the world free trading system are very close to collapse, a U.S. trade official said today.

Ambassador Rufus Yerxa, a deputy U.S. trade representative, told a news conference that the European Community had not responded to demands from most other countries for greater liberalization on farm trade.

“It’s quite clear the ball is now in the community’s court,” he said.

Asked about Australian Trade Minister Neal Blewett’s statement that something had to give by day’s end, Yerxa replied: “It is safe to say we share the concern of Minister Blewett of Australia that these negotiations are very close to collapse.”

As he spoke, EC trade ministers were gathering in another building to discuss their position in talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, a treaty pledging its members to free trade.

Yerxa said it was “highly unlikely” there would be further negotiations unless the EC changed its position. No talks on the key farm trade question were scheduled.

Despite pressure from many sides on the Europeans for deep cuts in the EC’s costly farm support programs, community officials showed no willingness to make new reductions in their agriculture offer at the 107-nation Uruguay Round, the most ambitious trade talks ever.

“There is absolutely no hope of having an agreement this afternoon or even tomorrow afternoon--but possibly by Friday,” said Ray MacSharry, the farm chief of the 12-nation trading bloc.

Officials are locked in a make-or-break effort to overhaul the global trading system.

The comprehensive agreement they are seeking would lower trade barriers and write new rules covering trade in 15 areas, including agriculture, manufactured goods, textiles, trademarks and patents, and services, such as banking and telecommunications.

The Uruguay Round bargaining, which opened in 1986 in the Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este, has broken down in recent months because of a stubborn fight between the European Community and its major trading partners over government payments to farmers.

Many European farmers view the subsidy cuts as threatening their livelihood.