FTA's are normally negotiated by technical specialists and professional negotiators "far from the maddening crowd". They normally only become "political" when controversial proposals like independent courts to arbitrate disputes are included or when they are too overtly "neo-liberal" in the sense that they contain proposals that will that will damage key sectoral interests in a particular economy - e.g. farmers.

Trump is actually unusual in that he actually takes an interest, although he usually gets his facts wrong. As US firms are the biggest beneficiaries from trade liberalisation, he should be careful which can of worms he opens. The EU response has, to date, been muted, but there are an awful lot of large US multinationals operating in Europe who could be badly hit by an on-line sales tax, a Tobin tax, and various import duties.

Index of Frank's Diaries