NARA, Japan -- Ministers from the world's top farm powers huddled on Friday for talks on agricultural liberalization but found themselves banging heads over a surprise U.S. proposal to slash farm-goods tariffs worldwide.

The idea of cutting global tariffs to 25 percent or less from a current average of 62 percent turned up the heat under already simmering tensions over new U.S. legislation boosting subsidies to American farmers.

That bill, which raises crop and dairy subsidies by 67 percent, had fanned fears that World Trade Organization negotiations on farm liberalization launched in Doha last year could be stalled.

EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler lashed out at the latest U.S. proposals, which include limiting nations' use of trade-distorting subsidies for domestic farmers to five percent of the value of their agricultural production.

"My initial impression is that this proposal is unbalanced because it requires a great deal more effort from other countries than from the U.S." he told Reuters.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman met with Japanese Farm Minister Tsutomu Takebe in the evening to discuss the plan.

"We recognize our proposal is very drastic but to conclude the Doha Round of trade liberalization talks we have to start with something radical and then negotiate," she was quoted as saying by a Japanese Farm Ministry official. Takebe, hosting the two-day gathering of ministers in Japan's ancient capital of Nara, was quoted as replying: "The plan is too radical for other WTO members to go along with."

A spokesman for Veneman in Washington disputed the Japanese official's characterization of the two ministers' conversation. Deputy Chief of Staff Kevin Herglotz told Reuters that Veneman did not call the U.S. proposal "drastic," nor did she say "We have to start with something radical and then negotiate."

"In the meeting, Secretary Veneman described the U.S. proposal as bold and aggressive and as the direction WTO members need to take in the next round of negotiations," Herglotz said.

Australia and Canada, members of the 18-nation Cairns Group of agricultural free traders, gave a cautious thumbs-up.

"In the light of Australia's continuing concerns about the U.S. farm bill, this reform proposal signals that the U.S. is prepared to seek a leadership role in these negotiations," Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said in a statement.

But while welcoming the proposal, Canadian Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief questioned whether the United States was interested in practicing what it preaches.

"Now it'll be interesting to see how they square that proposal with the action of the farm bill," he told reporters.

?????Talks Heat Up???? The gathering in Nara is the first ministerial meeting on agriculture since Doha, and the WTO has set a March 31, 2003 deadline for achieving a broad outline on farm trade liberalization.

In a sweaty prelude to the talks, ministers visited a 1,000-year-old hillside rice paddy near Nara, braving morning temperatures near 35 degrees Celsius (95 F) to get a taste of centuries-old Japanese farming methods.

Australia's Truss, the EU's Fischler and Canada's Lyle Vanclief all wore broad-brimmed straw hats under a blazing sun, while the United States' Ann Veneman cooled herself with a Japanese wooden fan.

The trip was the perfect opportunity for Japan to stress the social importance of farming in sustaining the environment and hard-pressed rural communities -- a philosophy that translates into generous handouts for farmers and hefty import tariffs.

That's a vision shared by the EU, which ploughs almost half its annual budget of 95 billion euros ($95 billion) into the farm sector.

Japan rivals Switzerland as the world's top payer of farm subsidies, with the EU not far behind.

Veneman was set to provide a preview of the U.S. proposal to her counterparts before it is submitted next week at a WTO meeting in Geneva.

U.S. agricultural tariffs now average 12 percent and would fall to five percent under the plan, far below the proposed global average.

Major competitors -- and markets for U.S. exports -- such as the European Union and Japan currently are far above the proposed 25 percent limit.

The United States shelled out $49 billion in support to farmers in 2000, equivalent to 22 percent of gross farm revenue, according to the latest figures from the OECD.

That compared with EU support of $90 billion or 38 percent.

Critics argue that handouts to agricultural producers in rich countries hurt farmers in developing nations, pushing them to ruin by pricing them out of their home markets.