Trade negotiations may be blocked for many more years

It is twenty years since the last major multilateraltrade agreement was signed and there is no newdeal in sight. What’s more, the regionalTransatlantic and Trans-Pacific trade talks looklikely to drag on for years. One reason for this isthat all these negotiations are increasinglycomplex and involve some pooling of sovereigntywhich many governments are reluctant to accept.Also, there is not sufficient political capital to pushthrough the agreements in the US or EU, and it isincreasingly difficult to reach a consensus oninternational economic policies because of thegrowing number of significant players involved.