We don't actually lose much sleep here at The Hive about Obama or Clinton's trade policy. Both speak nonsense on the subject, and both appear dangerous, but as neither has a hope of election to the Presidency this is all academic.
Nevertheless, World Bank boss Bobbie Zoellick has seen the need to make some reassuring comments:
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said in an interview that once in the White House, the winner of November's election would find it hard to block an agreement, should tortuous negotiations at the World Trade Organisation succeed by then.
Hillary Clinton has said she might not finish the 6-year-old Doha world trade talks, and she and her rival for the Democratic party nomination, Barack Obama, have both criticised a 1994 free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico for costing U.S. jobs.
Zoellick, who helped launch the World Trade Organisation's Doha round in 2001 as the top U.S. trade official, recalled how in 1992 former president George Bush concluded talks for the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada and passed it to his successor, Bill Clinton, for signing.
"President Clinton gave some consideration of whether he should move this forward and I think he decided it would be devastating for North American relations if he didn't," he said.
"So I guess I would pose the same question. If the Bush administration is able to close a global trade deal, first off whether it's President (John) McCain, who has been very supportive of trade, or if it's a President Obama or a President Clinton, can they really walk away from a global trade deal?"
"President Clinton didn't run on a trade agenda but he found it hard to walk away from the one he was handling," he said.
