Developing countries are fighting hard to retain the right to increase farm im-port tariffs in spite of slashing them rapidly to cope with the global food crisis. Faint signs of progress in the troubled "Doha round" of global trade talks last week in Geneva were imperilled by a fresh dispute over poor countries' ability to protect their farmers with tariffs.

The European biodiesel industry says it will soon launch legal action against its US competitors, alleging that unfairly subsidised American production is undercutting it in the EU market. The European Biodiesel Board told the Financial Times it would by mid-April ask the European Commission to impose one or both of two kinds of import tariff on US imports. These tariffs are "anti-dumping" levies, used against exports sold more cheaply than in the home market, and "countervailing duties", designed to offset the effect of government subsidy.