Transatlantic Geometry

A new report from the Atlantic Council, prepared under the chairmanship of Stuart Eizenstat and Grant Aldonas, and with members including John Jackson, Claude Barfield and Kenneth Dam, is calling for significant changes in the international trade "regime."  An end to the "round" system, moving forward on a U.S.-EU transatlantic market, and most interestingly, more "variable geometry."  By this, they mean moving forward with "coalitions of the willing" (one might call them "coalitions of the wealthy") to make new accords in WTO-plus areas, such as competition.  They also suggest something that might be modeled on APEC "open regionalism":  like-mined countries agreeing on deeper liberalization, but extending it on an MFN basis.