A fter the debacle of the Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, recently renewed a long-standing German call for a transatlantic free trade area embracing the European Union and the three members of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Peter Mandelson, the EU’s trade commissioner, followed with his own post-Doha advocacy. He urged bilateral and regional agreements as the only early route to further liberalisation of trade and investment.

However, it is not yet clear how serious Mrs Merkel is about the idea; and the EU commissioner, in his list of priorities for bilateral agreements, never mentioned a transatlantic initiative. In effect, he said Yes to India, South Korea, Russia and the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; but No to Canada and the US (Mexico was earlier favoured by the EU with a free trade agreement of sorts).