Negotiating trade agreements with the United States is a trying task at the best of times. Too often, that supposed apostle of free-trade values is prone to exhibit some distinctly double standards, as in its use of protectionist textile quotas and threats of sanctions.
Now this task is set to become still more difficult after lack of support in the House of Representatives forced President Bill Clinton to withdraw his request for 'fast-track' negotiating powers under which Congress can only approve or reject trade deals but is not allowed to tinker with their provisions.
Such powers are not always essential. Mr Clinton has struck more than 100 trade accords without them since 1994, including major agreements with China and Japan. But these did not need to be approved by Congress since no amendments to US law were involved. Where such changes are required, most countries will refuse to negotiate with a partner which lacks fast-track authority for fear that a carefully constructed deal could be picked apart afterwards.
Mr Clinton's failure to secure this will make it impossible to proceed with ambitious plans to promote new free-trade blocs. One likely casualty is the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum's blueprint for establishing a tariff-free zone among member states by 2020. Mr Clinton will now be poorly placed to press this at the forum's summit in Vancouver this month.
Washington can expect to play a less dominant role in international trade negotiations, as the Canadians are already optimistically suggesting that Asian and other nations will prefer to strike deals with them in order to gain access to North America. But the huge size of the market to the south suggests such hopes are unlikely to be realised.
For better or worse, the US remains the most important export market for China and all of Asia. That makes this outbreak of protectionist sentiment all the more worrying. Mr Clinton has said that he will revive the fast-track issue next year. It can only be hoped that he will have more success the second time round.
