On April 6^th the WTO ruled for the third time that the European Union must amend its banana-import rules, which discriminate unfairly against American fruit distributors.

美國反對為向世貿組織提出了兩項正對歐洲聯盟的新的訴訟:一項是關于對“空中客車”的補貼，“空中客車”是波音在航空領域的對手；另一項是有關歐洲聯盟的地域商標法規，例如，不準加利福尼亞生產的充氣的酒使用“香檳”這個名稱。

America in turn launched two new WTO cases against the EU. One is over subsidies to Airbus, Boeing’s rival in aerospace. The other is over EU rules on geographical labels, which prevent, for instance, Californian fizzy wines being called champagne.

但是，冷戰期間的靈活反應能力現在完全消失了，國會越來越重視貿易保護主義。受到它的制約，克林頓政府沒有堅決捍衛自由主義政策的愿望或意向。

But Cold War reflexes are now all but dead and, hemmed in by an increasingly protectionist Congress, Bill Clinton’s administration does not have the stomach or the inclination to make a stand for liberal policies.