US business groups Tuesday blamed China and India for the collapse of the WTO's Doha Round of trade negotiations, saying it was a blow to the world economy and the poor.

The WTO talks broke down in Geneva after the United States and India failed to agree on proposals for measures to help poor farmers. The US Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than three million businesses and organizations, lamented the setback.  

"The breakdown of these talks is bad news for the world's businesses, workers, farmers and most importantly the poor," Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive Tom Donohue said in a statement.

Delegates to WTO talks said negotiations stumbled on proposals for measures to protect poor farmers that would impose a special tariff on certain agricultural goods in the event of an import surge or price fall.

The world's economic superpower, the United States, and India, one of the world's biggest emerging economies, were sharply divided over a proposed special safeguard mechanism (SSM) in the agriculture sector.

India and some other developing wanted the SSM to kick in at a lower import surge level than had been proposed in a bid to protect their millions of poor farmers from starvation.

Others wanted it to take effect at a higher rate so as not to hurt exporters. "It's ironic that this blow to the Doha Round came from two of the chief beneficiaries of worldwide trade. India and China are emerging powers but with great power comes great responsibility," Donohue said.

"They missed an opportunity to show leadership as key players in the global trading system. The real losers are the poorest countries, whose citizens understand that expanding trade is the right path toward growth," Donohue said.