Business Notes INTERNATIONAL

From Dec. 3 through 7, trade ministers from 105 countries are scheduled to sit down in Brussels to sign off on a major accord governing nearly $4 trillion in global commerce. But negotiations to revise the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade are on the verge of collapse over the prickly issues of farm subsidies. Last week a new U.S.-European Community dispute over trade in services threatened to make an accord even more difficult.

Earlier this month Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials were in European capitals seeking a compromise. The 12-nation E.C. favors a 30% cut in domestic farm subsidies over 10 years, starting from 1986. But Washington, backed by the 14-nation Cairns group of major agricultural exporters, demands a 75% reduction in those supports.

Inability to achieve a GATT agreement would dramatically increase tensions in global trade. That, in turn, could damage cooperation on issues ranging from the environment to the Persian Gulf crisis.