Europe seeks to set global trade rules after Trump steps back

Jeffrey Bergstrand

If Donald Trump's ditching of a U.S.-led trade alliance with Pacific Rim nations wasn't a gift to the European Union, then it must be the next best thing.

The president's decision on his first day in office effectively pulled the United States out of the race to frame global trade rules. With Washington preoccupied by an attempt to renegotiate its existing NAFTA treaty with Canada and Mexico, the EU has an opportunity to become the top setter of common business standards in a series of new deals.

EXCERPT:

But with Trump focused on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, "the United States is out of the picture for the next three and a half years", said Jeffrey Bergstrand at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Read the entire story on the Reuters website.