The US and Brazil accused each other of blocking an agreement over taxes on international online trade. The WTO is experiencing a period of prolonged deadlock.
Talks between trade representatives and high-level officials from some 166 countries ended with no major deals signed early Monday.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) had been meeting in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde for four tense days of negotiations, hoping to finalize an agreement on e-commerce that was blocked by Brazil at the last minute.
"We worked hard," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said, adding that the US and Brazil in particular "need more time" to work out their differences over the agreement to impose levies on cross-border online orders.
Given the current state of geopolitics and global trade, attendees had set the bar relatively low. Yet hopes for at least a joint declaration of future purpose were dashed when Brazil objected to the e-commerce resolution in protest over issues stemming from a separate debate about agriculture.