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yesterday for stalling the deal.

They instructed Mr Arthur Dunkel, director-general of Gatt, to make

personal approaches to both sides in Washington and Brussels in a late

attempt to avert a world trade war.

They met in an air of crisis as Mr Delors said that he felt a deal

could be agreed in time for the Edinburgh EC summit next month. If this

were achieved it would be the first piece of good news for the

much-criticised British presidency of the EC.

Mr Dunkel, who called yesterday's emergency meeting to gain formal

endorsement for his initiative, made the point that he will not be

talking separately with the French.

His reasoning is that he will be dealing with the 12 member states of

the EC at community level but his firm rejection of a separate meeting

with the French, the most conspicuous opponent of a deal, was taken as a

further sign that the rest of the world is fast running out of patience

with Mr Mitterrand's Government and its refusal to face down its

militant farming lobby.

Mr Dunkel told yesterday's meeting of Gatt's trade negotiating

committee (TNC) that failure to settle the EC-US dispute would not just

scupper the Uruguay Round which has lasted seven years so far but might

also undo existing agreed trade customs.

''The present situation is even more critical,'' he said. ''Unresolved

and escalating trade disputes have put under threat even the existing

multilateralist trading system which is the very foundation of our

ongoing efforts in the Uruguay Round.

''Unless the present circumstances change dramatically any further

work programme put in place by the TNC is not likely to achieve concrete

results and will, on the contrary, destroy the credibility of the Geneva

process,'' he argued.

He sounded a note for sympathy for smaller trading nations angered by

their own inability to force the hands of the EC and the US. An

overwhelming majority of participants expressed ''deep concern and

helplessness'', he said, because the two biggest trade blocks had failed

to provide the trigger to multilateral progress in the final stages of

the Uruguay Round.

''In short, there is a deep sense of crisis since it appears that the

Uruguay Round itself is in danger of being lost.''

There were clear signs of international impatience with the antics of

the two major trading blocks both of whom pay, and sometimes try to

hide, huge subsidies to farmers who form a formidable and rich political

lobby.

Australia led the approach of the smaller nations to the G7 inner core

pointing out that the deadline for agreement on the Uruguay Round -- the

last day of this year -- was now in severe danger.

Perhaps for French consumption, the 29 argued that a Gatt deal would

benefit all sectors including agriculture. Although France would lose on

agriculture it has been argued that it would gain more than most in

other areas.

There was no significant input from the French in Geneva. They are

being bombarded from all sides now for a change of heart. Chancellor

Helmut Kohl of Germany has made it clear he will not support the French

hard line and Mr Mitterrand is now on strained terms again with Mr Major

because of the Prime Minister's latest procrastination on Maastricht.

Meanwhile, Commonwealth secretary-general Emeka Anyaoku urged Mr Major

to consider meeting US leaders to try to break the deadlock. In a letter

to the Prime Minister, he said an early solution was essential to the

Commonweath.