Europe worried about US protectionism

Wall St. Journal has an interview with the Peter Mandelson, the European Union trade commissioner, who worries about protectionist rhetoric in the U.S. presidential race.

...Mr. Mandelson argues on a recent afternoon -- more so than any of the EU's 27 member states -- it is America that threatens the cause of free trade today.

"You can see it in the politics of the country," he says from his armchair in an EU office in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. "You can see it in the Congress, you can see it in the primaries, you can see it in the town-hall meetings, you can see it in the candidates who, in order to appeal to the public, articulate these arguments" of protectionism.

"I don't see anywhere in Europe similar sentiments being expressed. I hear reservations about agriculture, or . . . about whether [trade] talks are balanced." But, he adds, "You'll not find anyone running for election in Europe and questioning whether we should complete the Doha round [of world trade talks]. You hear that from some of the candidates in the U.S., some of them from the Republican and the Democrat side."