From Mr Ben Zipperer.

Sir, Jacob Weisberg astutely points out that some US politicians exploit xenophobia and nationalism to stymie trade deals ("Free trade is the real election casualty", November 9).

But it is difficult to take seriously the claim that with the Democrats' recent electoral success "free trade has definitely left the building".

Both Republicans and Democrats are notorious protectionists. There is broad, bipartisan support for copyright protections on pharmaceuticals, software and entertainment, and immigration restrictions for doctors, lawyers and other professionals.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, the Central American Free Trade Agreement and other policies Mr Weisberg associates with "open trade" often strengthen these protectionist regimes, even though liberalising them would yield gains to consumers that swamped thepromised benefits of standard trade deals.

Free trade was never in the building to begin with.

Ben Zipperer,

Research Associate,

Center for Economic and Policy Research,

Washington, DC 20010, US