Once the staunchest supporter of multilateral free trade, the US has turned into arguably its greatest foe. Both multilateralism and free trade are at risk.

Many of today’s Congress members are a deplorable disappointment to proponents of multilateralism – and it is not just their opposition to renewing George W. Bush’s fast-track authority to conclude the Doha round that makes them so. Even the free-traders, among them many Republicans, have undermined multilateralism by embracing preferential trade agreements. These PTAs masquerade as free trade but are plainly not.