The right and left are moving towards each other, in a sort of pincers movement designed to destroy the army of free traders pressing Congress to give President Obama what is known as fast-track authority. That would permit him to put any trade deals he negotiates with eleven Pacific Rim countries (the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP) and the EU (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP) to Congress on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. Congress would be precluded from rejecting the concessions the American side had to make to get a deal done.

Dissident Democrats include greens who fear environmental goals might be subordinated to commercial interests, trade unions that believe more trade means fewer jobs and lower wages here at home, and pro-regulation Democrats who worry that the deals might weaken health and safety and other regulations. So adamant are the anti-free-traders on the left that the Democratic leadership, when in control of the Senate, would not even put fast-track to a vote, lest the members be forced to choose between the president and the trade unions.