Robert Zoellick, US trade representative in the first administration of George W. Bush, has been made deputy secretary of state. The move is welcome: Mr Zoellick is an experienced, pragmatic and internationally respected policymaker. He should help Condoleezza Rice make the state department a place with which the rest of the world can do business. But he leaves behind a hole. To fill it, at least temporarily, Mr Bush has named Peter Allgeier, one of Mr Zoellick's deputies, as acting trade representative. Mr Allgeier is a competent technocrat. But the US and, indeed, the world need someone who is not only permanent, but has political clout as well.

Liberal trade remains the foundation upon which the world's hopes for greater prosperity depend. While open markets do not depend on international negotiations and global rules alone, these remain the foundation of the system. In protecting and developing that system, the world also continues to look to the US for leadership, as it has done for 60 years.