WASHINGTON, March 10: Free-trade talks between the United States and United Arab Emirates on Friday fell victim to a political furore among United States lawmakers over a UAE company’s aborted takeover of US ports.

President George W. Bush warned that the controversy could hurt US strategic interests in the Middle East, while Treasury Secretary John Snow said the US must guard against trade protectionism.

A day after Dubai Ports World said it would cede control of the six ports, sparing the Bush administration a showdown with Congress, officials said the trade negotiations with the Gulf state had been postponed.

No date has been set for the next round of talks, which had been scheduled for next week in the UAE, said Neena Moorjani, spokeswoman for the office of the US Trade Representative.

“In order to get an agreement that both sides can successfully implement, we need additional time to prepare for the next round of negotiations,” she said, while insisting that both countries were “strongly committed” to progress.

“This is not unusual. Just in the past few months, we’ve postponed rounds with Ecuador three times, Panama twice and Colombia once,” Moorjani added.

Last year US companies exported goods worth $8.5bn to the UAE.—AFP