American cars have bigger bumpers than European ones. That may sound like a trivial detail but it, and others like it, have big ramifications for diplomats charged with negotiating a trade agreement between the US and the EU. Opening up markets once meant removing barriers that protected domestic producers from foreign competition. Authorities in Europe and America have given the impression that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is just another trade agreement of that kind. In fact, the proposed agreement is a different beast.

Most old-fashioned barriers have already disappeared. Trade negotiators are focusing instead on removing discrepancies between the regulations in force in the American and European markets. These talks are no longer about removing protections; they are about harmonising precautions that prevent harm to consumers.

The political economy of this sort of endeavour differs from those of past negotiations. When you work to reduce tariffs, consumers praise you for lowering prices while producers complain that you have stripped away their protections. Things are different when we start talking about regulatory harmonisation. Producers are excited by the prospect of such measures, which could have serious implications for medicine, food, financial products, vehicles – everything. But they make consumers anxious because they fear it means giving up the precautionary safeguards from which they benefit.