China said it has a right to set high tariffs on rice, sugar and cotton at multilateral trade talks in Geneva monday, the Wall Street Journal reported. China’s objection to a compromise proposal on farm tariffs and subsidies, presented late last week in talks at the WTO in Geneva, appeared to set back hopes of closing a deal in the so-called Doha Round, still struggling after seven years of negotiations. It also brought a sharp rebuke from the US. China, according to deputy US permanent representative to the WTO David Shark, was throwing the Doha Round into the "greatest jeopardy of its seven-year life," adding that China should understand the importance of its markets to the US and the poorer countries of Africa and Asia. Zhang Xiangchen, an official at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, called the US argument "absurd," according to Xinhua.