British and European foreign ministers are preparing to defy Washington at talks over an arms trade treaty, amid fears the U.S. will use its diplomatic clout to water down proposals for the first comprehensive laws governing weapons sales, The Guardian reports.

More than 150 countries have sent delegations to the UN for the special month-long session that begins on Monday, July 2, with many hoping that 15 years after the idea of an arms trade treaty was first mooted by Nobel peace prize winners, and seven years after the UK took an unexpected lead on the issue, the UN is now close to an agreement that could transform the $1tn arms industry.

A draft of the treaty, agreed this year, states that governments must not approve arms sales to countries where there is a "substantial risk of a serious violation" of human rights. If the draft treaty was in place now, it would prevent Russia from sending arms to Syria.

But the U.S. wants the wording of this key component of the draft treaty changed to say governments need only "consider" factors such as human rights records before authorizing weapon sales.

In a statement issued on the eve of the talks, the foreign secretary, William Hague, and his counterparts in France, Germany and Sweden said they would be pushing for a treaty that included "strong provisions on human rights". They said the UN had a responsibility to agree a "robust, effective and legally binding arms trade treaty. Now is the time for us to deliver."