PARIS, Aug 27 (Reuters) - World leaders should meet to try to break the deadlock that sank global trade talks in Geneva last month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday, echoing similar calls from the United States and Brazil.

The 7-year-old Doha round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks to reduce trade barriers collapsed after the United States and India failed to agree on a proposal to help developing countries protect their farmers from a surge in imports.

Sarkozy said an agreement between the main industrialised nations used to be enough for developing countries to fall into line, but that had changed with emerging powers like India and Brazil now just as important for obtaining a deal. This called for a change in the way WTO business was conducted, he said.

"Should we continue another seven years without changing anything?" Sarkozy said in a speech to French diplomats.

"Should we not rather be thinking about a new way of negotiating, and plan a meeting of the main heads of state involved to reflect on ways of getting out of this crisis?"

France, Europe's biggest agricultural producer, has been a vocal defender of European farm subsidies. Sarkozy had said during the Geneva talks that the proposals on the table were unacceptable because Europe's trading partners were not offering enough in return for proposed cuts in EU subsidies.

This angered EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, who complained he was being undermined in his mission to represent the interests of the entire bloc.

In the end, the French position was not tested because the talks collapsed over a separate issue.

Many WTO negotiators felt the Geneva talks in July were the last chance of clinching a deal before a new U.S. administration is in place, but Sarkozy is the latest of several senior figures to challenge that view in recent weeks.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said on Aug. 22 that serious negotiations should resume in September and a deal was "still conceivable" this year.

Brazil and Australia have also backed an urgent resumption of talks, as has World Bank President Robert Zoellick.