Turnberry explained: The EU-US trade deal that never was

Brussels decision-making is hard to understand – that’s no secret. And it’s all the more confusing when, time and again, headlines announce the “end of negotiations” on a Brussels-Washington trade deal that had been “sealed” last summer.

For non-trade hawks – or people with lives and jobs that don’t spiral around tariff drama with Washington – the latest developments this week might be somewhat confusing.

The EU-US trade agreement is an undeniably big deal. But in case the whole Turnberry affair has been complicated in the various rounds of negotiations and brinksmanship, here’s what exactly was negotiated this week in Brussels, and why it doesn’t mean the transatlantic trade war is over.

The root of all evil: trade surplus

Trump returned to the White House convinced that America’s trade relationships were “unfair” and that tariffs are the cure to all economic problems. In the EU’s case, the 27-member bloc does sell more goods to the US than vice…