After India and America, time for a better EU deal
There was a time when, doing this job, you could not get away from trade deals. Postwar trade liberalisation, which Donald Trump has been doing his best to reverse, meant a series of often protracted negotiations under the auspices of Gatt (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and its successor, the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
From 1947 to 1994 there were eight Gatt rounds, named after where they were launched, including Geneva, Tokyo, Uruguay, Annecy in France, and even Torquay.
Multilateral trade liberalisation has, however, come to a stop in the 21st century. The WTO's Doha Round, or Doha development agenda, was launched in 2001 and has yet to conclude. It is a bit like that court case in Charles Dickens's Bleak House.
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