Trade relations. Talking Turkey

Peter Mandelson is Europe's new trade tsar. Relations with America will determine his success

EXIT a technocrat and marathon-runner; enter a political operator. On November 22nd, Peter Mandelson, a long-time consigliere to Tony Blair, Britain's prime minister, began work as the European Union's trade commissioner, succeeding Pascal Lamy, who has steered the EU's trade policy since 1999. Mr Mandelson's success will be decided by how well, or how badly, he deals with America.

Not only is America the EU's biggest, and often most fractious, trading partner, but any progress towards freer global trade depends crucially on leadership from both America and the EU, the two biggest participants in international trade. For the moment, Mr Mandelson's American counterpart will be Bob Zoellick, the Bush administration's trade representative since 2001. Although America's trade chiefs rarely last more than one presidential term, Mr Zoellick shows no sign of departing immediately.

A fellow long-distance runner, Mr Zoellick got on famously well with Mr Lamy. Despite the crass protectionism of Mr Bush's early years, when he increased both steel tariffs and farm subsidies, trade policy has been a notable exception to the broader political tension between the Bush administration and “Old Europe”. Messrs Zoellick and Lamy worked hard to launch the Doha round of global trade talks in 2001, and subsequently to keep them alive. Though there were bilateral disputes, on issues such as tax subsidies and steel, the mood was one of workmanlike co-operation.

Messrs Mandelson and Zoellick must now maintain that co-operation. It will not be easy. With the dollar at new lows against the euro, and likely to slide further, the economic environment will be volatile. And the trade challenges will be tougher. The heavy lifting of the Doha trade negotiations is still to come. Poorer countries must cut their industrial tariffs and open their service sectors. Rich countries, especially the EU and America, need to be serious about freeing farm trade. Though the EU has shown some courage on farming, both sides still have a long way to go. Their trade negotiators must now push the Doha round forward, and avoid using each other as an excuse for inaction.

In his first days in the job, Mr Mandelson has shown no shortage of ambition. He has declared Doha his top priority. He also wants to push “closer regulatory convergence and mutual recognition of standards” between America and Europe. That is a good idea. In far too many areas, from drug testing to food safety, bureaucratic turf battles mean that the two trade behemoths have costly regulatory duplication.

But the real test will remain how trade disputes are managed. Mr Mandelson says he prefers negotiation to litigation and favours “early-warning systems” to stop spats getting out of control. That, too, sounds good. Whether it means anything is less obvious, and will soon be tested in a dispute over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing. After America abruptly cancelled a long-standing agreement on civil aircraft, both sides have moved towards challenging the other's subsidies at the World Trade Organisation. Airbus/Boeing will dominate the agenda, but there are also other sores: from America's failure to repeal the Byrd law, an anti-dumping provision ruled illegal by the WTO, to its frustration with the EU's attitude to hormones in beef and genetically modified food. Mr Mandelson's political talents are famous in Britain. He now needs to demonstrate the same skill on the global stage.

Editorial looks at the external trade challenges facing the new European Commissioner for Trade, Peter Mandelson. Article says that relations with America will determine his success

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