Sources said Wednesday that the tariff on Brazilian orange juice that growers say is vital to keeping them in business is scheduled to be in place for another 10 years.

Farmers had raised concerns that the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement, which would demolish all the trade barriers among 34 nations in the Western Hemisphere, would devastate Florida's citrus business.

Andy LaVigne, chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual, said that while it appears the 30-cents-a-gallon tariff is safe for now, it remains on the negotiating table.

" The (Bush) administration continues to emphasize that they realize the sensitive nature of commodities like citrus," LaVigne said Wednesday.

Trade ministers from the 34 countries are expected to convene this morning at Miami's Hotel Inter-Continental for the eighth ministerial meeting of the FTAA pact. Police, who have kept a very tight lid on demonstrators during the week, are expecting at least 10,000 protesters to march on the city today in opposition to the agreement.

On Wednesday, deputy ministers, who have been meeting since Saturday, issued a draft declaration that provides a framework for the pact, which is scheduled to be completed in 2005. The draft calls for an "a la carte" approach to the FTAA in which the countries can sign on to a common agreement, and then negotiate individual arrangements in sensitive areas.

A copy of the restricted document, obtained by The Palm Beach Post, instructs the trade negotiations committee "to develop a common and balanced set of rights and obligations" in 11 areas, including market access, agriculture, government procurement, subsidies and others.

The draft states that countries wishing to go beyond the basics that will be required can "develop additional liberalization and disciplines."

Florida citrus growers have run a $7 million campaign to hold on to the U.S. tariff on imported orange juice. Growers contend they couldn't compete against Brazil, the world's largest producer and exporter of orange juice, without the tariff.

Negotiations on the details of the agricultural portion of the agreement are planned for early 2004. But the source, who attended a private briefing by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, said citrus remains in the so-called "fourth basket" of products whose tariffs will be protected for another 10 years.

The other three categories call for an end to specific tariffs immediately, in one to five years and in five to 10 years.

Brazil's chief negotiator, Celso Amorim, said Wednesday that the basis for giving countries a chance to "pick and choose" how deeply they want to participate in certain issues began with the United States, which wanted to preserve tariffs for steel and oranges.

" I think it is a victory in that it allows us to move forward," Amorim said of the draft. "In that it is a victory for everyone. It doesn't impose a single-size suit on all countries."

Canada's Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew called the provision allowing two levels of FTAA participation "a compromise" between Amorim and Zoellick that was far from the more-comprehensive pact Canada sought.

"We did not go as far as we wanted. We did move things along," Pettigrew said.

But Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington think tank, said negotiators came up with a vague document because they didn't want a repeat of the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in September, where talks collapsed.

Both Brazilian and Canadian officials have said they do not feel the FTAA is threatened by separate free trade agreements the U.S. is negotiating with some of the developing countries included in the FTAA.

Zoellick announced Tuesday negotiations will be initiated with Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and Panama.

Unclear Wednesday was the fate of Florida's sugar industry, which also benefits from special financial arrangements.

Robert Coker, senior vice president with U.S. Sugar Corp. in Clewiston, said sugar producers have the same concerns about the new treaties as they have with the FTAA.

"We want sugar handled at the World Trade Organization level," Coker said.

FTAA negotiations are scheduled to last through Friday.