TABLE AS EC negotiators met their US counterparts in Washington last

night, with a world trade deal believed to be close, France prepared to

mount a last-ditch stand against the talks.

EC farm Commissioner Ray MacSharry and the American secretary of

agriculture, Mr Edward Madigan, began their talks immediately after the

European delegation arrived.

Although they lasted for only three hours, Mr MacSharry had earlier

expressed optimism on the outcome. Both sides will, however, have to

move from their previous stances.

The EC had accused the Americans of bad faith, saying Mr Madigan had

backed down from an agreement under pressure from his farm lobby. The US

insisted the Europeans, under pressure from the French farm lobby, were

insisting on a degree of protectionism quite against the rules laid down

by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Last night, the French were again proving a stumbling block. At a

crisis inner cabinet meeting, the French Government said European

Commission and US negotiators had not yet met French conditions for an

acceptable accord within Gatt. It aimed to oppose any deal which went

beyond existing reform of the EC's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP),

adopted last May.

With the government apparently ready to create a new EC crisis, French

farmers joined their German colleagues in calling for a suspension of

the talks until after January 20, when US President-elect Bill Clinton

is inaugurated.

To emphasise their anger, several hundred farmers gathered near the US

embassy in Paris to protest against Washington's demands for deep cuts

in farm handouts. They burned a US flag and threw bags of peas.

''I want a large movement of national consensus to defend French

interests,'' Prime Minister Pierre Beregovoy told parliament yesterday.

The US has threatened to impose 200% tariffs on $300m worth of EC farm

exports, mainly white wine, beginning on December 5, if Europe does not

revise its oilseed subsidy programme, the nub of the dispute.

Agreement on oilseeds could create what world trade chief Arthur

Dunkel called a ''mood of accord'' that would allow completion of a

global trade pact. US-EC disagreement over freer agricultural trade has

stalled the pact, the Uruguay round of Gatt, for two years.

Caught between the risks of a farmers' revolt or an EC crisis, the

French Government has now denounced a possible deal on oilseed output

and cuts in farm subsidies, the keys to a Gatt deal.

In London, Agriculture Minister John Gummer said in a television

interview there was ''every chance'' of a resolution.

Meanwhile Mr Jacques Delors, President of the EC Commission, sounded

more conciliatory than before in the dispute when he briefed the

European parliament yesterday as Mr MacSharry and Mr Frans Andriessen,

EC trade Commissioner, were arriving in Washington.

He seemed to be at pains to emphasise the unity of the Commission's

approach to the new talks after the explosive internal disputes of

recent weeks.

He told MEPs at their monthly meeting in Strasbourg: ''There is no

cacophony, there is harmony.''

Mr Delors, who sympathises with French objections to any Gatt deal

which goes beyond the EC reforms, already agreed, seemed suddenly to be

taking a rosier view of its effects.

Mr Delors said he thought the reform of CAP had been ''good''. It

allowed the countryside to facilitate rural development while preserving

an equilibrium between the countryside and development.

''We have shown solidarity with people working on small farms and this

is compatible for those in more difficult conditions. I am sorry this

has not got over clearly enough.''

It was this last remark that prompted a rosier view of the chances for

a deal. It suggested Mr Delors now favoured selling the CAP reform more

strongly to French farmers.