The United States has long been the leading champion of GATT and has urged other countries to accept its free-trade rules.

The goal of the global talks is to put trade in agriculture and services under the free-trade rules of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Beijing has insisted that it be admitted on special terms, exempt from many free-trade rules because of China's status as a huge but still developing nation.

The accord reduces tariffs and extends international free-trade rules to agriculture and some service industries.

The United States has charged that subsidies on airliners built by Airbus Industrie, the European constortium, violate free-trade rules, a trade official said today.

A three-judge panel will first examine the United States' tax benefits program for exporting companies to see if changes made recently comply with free-trade rules.

"Taiwan cannot afford to do anything to hinder the market," he said, because of a national commitment to abide by free-trade rules.

The pact would also extend the free-trade rules of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to farming and a few service industries, like accounting.

If approved, the pact would reduce tariffs and bring industries like farming and accounting under international free-trade rules for the first time.

The six-year-old negotiations, which involve 108 nations, are aimed at adopting rules to expand free-trade rules and reduce tariffs.