Brazil?s candidate to head the World Trade Organization lobbied for U.S. support on Monday and said he was optimistic of receiving it, despite often strained trade relations between the two countries.

?I don?t think that anyone can be elected to ... head of the WTO without the will of the United States. Obviously, if I did not think I could get the support, I would not be campaigning?, Brazilian Ambassador to the WTO Luiz Felipe Seixas Correa told reporters after meeting with U.S. officials.

But in what could be a bad sign for the Brazilian?s bid, U.S. trade officials described the meeting between Seixas Correa and Acting U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier without any of the praise they have heaped on other candidates for the WTO post.

?We believe the next director general of the WTO ... will play an important role in leading the WTO toward an ambitious and successful outcome? in world trade talks, USTR spokesman Richard Mills said. ?Today?s meeting gave us an opportunity to meet directly with him. ... It was a good discussion within a positive atmosphere?, Mills said.

The senior Brazilian diplomat is one of four candidates in the race to succeed current WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi, whose three-year term expires in August. His rivals include Carlos Perez del Castillo, a former chairman of the WTO General Council from Uruguay, as well as Mauritian Foreign Minister Jaya Krishna Cuttaree and former EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy.

The WTO hopes to complete the selection process by the end of May. Perez del Castillo has claimed to have the backing of most of Latin America. Seixas Correa expressed optimism he would be next WTO director general and said his support would become clear in the weeks ahead. The United States, which often disagrees with Brazil on trade issues, has not endorsed any of the four candidates.

But U.S. trade officials praised Perez del Castillo as a ?respected candidate who did a very good job when he chaired the WTO General Council? after he met with then-U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick last month.

The United States also has had kind words for Lamy, despite often rocky U.S.-EU trade relations. Last week, Brazil won a WTO case against the U.S. cotton program that has put the Bush administration in a politically awkward spot. At the same time, U.S. music, movie, software and book publishers want Washington to revoke certain trade benefits for Brazil because of piracy problems.

Disagreements between the two countries also have blocked completion of a Western Hemisphere free trade pact first envisioned over a decade ago. Despite such differences, the United States and Brazil ?share a deeply rooted interest in strengthening the multilateral process? at the WTO, Seixas Correa said.

Doug PALMER