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"We are at the low end of the production line for the global economy," he said. "We produce products and these products are consumed by other countries, especially the developed countries. This share of emissions should be taken by the consumers but not the producers," he said.

Mr Li also criticised proposals by the US to place carbon tariffs on goods imported from countries that do not limit those gases blamed for a rises in global temperatures. "If developed countries set a barrier in the name of climate change for trade, I think it is a disaster," Mr Li said.

Working out quite how to put Mr Li's suggestion into practice would be a logistical nightmare, other delegates in Washington said, even if the idea was ever agreed in principle. Asking importers to handle emissions "would mean that we would also like them to have jurisdiction and legislative powers in order to control and limit those," top EU climate negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger said.

Japan's chief negotiator Shinsuke Sugiyama pointed out that whatever deal emerged from Copenhagen, it was vital that it involved the US and China this time around. "Japan will not repeat Kyoto," Mr Sugiyama said. "At Kyoto we were not able to involve the biggest emitters in the world by now - and that means the United States of America and China," he said.