As Scott Bessent, America’s treasury secretary, negotiated with China in Switzerland late into the evening on May 11th, trade negotiators from the rest of the world found themselves at a loose end. Many had arrived in Washington for talks, desperately seeking trade deals, only to find America’s negotiators abroad and their meetings delayed or cancelled. One official, who expected to present painstakingly crafted positions on bovine-vaccination rules and currency manipulation, took the chance to visit the newly refurbished Air and Space Museum. He then left “about as empty-handed as before”.
