The European Union said Monday it would slash farm tariffs by 60 percent as part of a new global trade pact, a deeper cut than it has ever offered.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told reporters at the World Trade Organization that the offer was meant to kick-start an important week of global commerce talks on a new global commerce pact.

The 27-nation bloc has previously proposed to cut the tariffs by 54 percent.

“We’ve decided to help the negotiations this week get off to a strong start by raising the average cut in our agricultural tariff,” Mandelson said. “That is a very considerable improvement on our own part, but of course it’s light years away from any effort we’ve previously made in a trade round.”

But, he added, the offer was not a gift. It depends on emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China responding with improved offers on industrial tariffs.

Rich and poor countries have clashed repeatedly in the seven-year WTO talks known as the Doha round. Developing nations want more agricultural openings, while the U.S., EU and others seek better access for their manufacturers and banks.

“If we don’t all make the same sort of effort ... then we’re not going to get through to the end as we need to do this week,” Mandelson said.

While the EU’s farm tariffs have been an issue of dispute _ especially inside the bloc with countries such as France and Ireland skeptical of agricultural liberalization _ it is not clear how much pressure Brussels had been under from its trading partners.

The U.S., Brazil and other powerful agricultural exporters have recently focused on securing better conditions for trade in beef, dairy, sugar and other products sensitive for European farmers.

It remains to be seen how effective the EU’s offer will be in convincing developing countries to open up their manufacturing markets or the U.S. to cut its farm subsidies, another main sticking point of the negotiation.

Mandelson said he had yet to see “any movement or any flexibility on industrial tariffs from the fast-growing economies.”

“We need to see that,” he added.

Earlier, the chief U.S. negotiator said she was focusing on substance this week and not on talk that divides people, in her first public comments since Brazil’s foreign minister on Saturday compared rich countries’ deception in commerce talks to the tactics used by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.

Schwab, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, said “this is not the time and not the week for falling back on tired rhetoric _ rhetoric designed to perpetuate old divisions or create new ones.”