Partners and rivals

DEADLINES are to trade negotiators what chastity and continence were to St Augustine: distant aspirations rather than binding obligations. No surprise then that the target of completing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) this year will be missed. The 14th round of talks among nine states negotiating this “21st-century” regional trade agreement ended on September 15th. The next, to be held in New Zealand in December, and joined by two new members, Mexico and Canada, will not be the last.

This is a shame. The world economy could do with the boost that a big trade agreement would bring. A global deal, under the Doha round, is not in prospect. The TPP is a regional one that the Obama administration inherited from its predecessor and took on with gusto—though it has not yet sought “fast-track” negotiating authority from Congress. American business vests great hope in it, partly as a way of fighting Chinese competition. Barack Obama this week responded to the widespread American perception of Chinese trade cheating by announcing a WTO case over alleged subsidies in the car-parts industry.