The US. government said it is investigating the probable economic effects of eliminating all tariffs and quotas on goods from the world's least-developed countries.

The U.S. International Trade Commission said it would report its findings to the U.S. Trade Representative's office in February, two months after a World Trade Organization meeting at which Washington will be under pressure to agree to a "duty-free, quota-free" package for least-developed nations.

As part of the long-running Doha round of world trade talks, WTO members agreed in December 2005 on the broad outlines of a duty-free, quota-free package.

Nearly six years later, a final agreement in the Doha round still appears out of reach, so members are discussing a possible interim deal this December aimed primarily at helping the poorest members.

Carol Guthrie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office, said the February due date for the report would not prevent the United States from making decisions on a duty-free, quota-free package in December since the U.S. trade commission last examined the issue in 2007.

American negotiators in 2005 insisted on a provision that would allow Washington to maintain tariffs and quotas on 3 percent of products from least-developed countries to protect import-sensitive U.S. industries such as textiles and sugar.

The United States, like other developed countries, has long let many goods from developing countries enter without duties.

But the main program, known as the Generalized System of Preferences, expired at the end of last year and has not been renewed because of a Republican senator who objected to duty-free treatment on sleeping bags from Bangladesh.

President Barack Obama's administration and senior lawmakers are working to renew that program as part of a package of other trade legislation.

The International Trade Commission said it would examine the effects of eliminating the duties on U.S. industries, consumers and free trade partners as well as poor countries that already have preferential access to the United States.

Meanwhile, two senators urged U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to press in WTO talks for an agreement to curb foreign fisheries subsidies they said encourage overfishing and hurt U.S. companies.

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy has identified fisheries subsidies as one area of possible agreement by December, along with a duty-free, quota-free package.

"We believe strong provisions to reduce and control global fisheries subsidies are a 'must have' for the United States at the WTO," Senators Rob Portman and Ron Wyden said in a letter.

Guthrie said the Obama administration welcomed the senators interest in an issue it also considers to be critical.

"Overfishing is a massive global problem, one with significant development dimensions, and the Doha negotiations on this topic represent a critical opportunity to address it effectively," she said.

"We continue to hope that other WTO members will bring a greater sense of ambition and urgency on this issue than we have seen to date." (Reuters)