With the rise of China in its sights, the Obama administration has posted Marines in Darwin, Australia and increased the number of warships visiting Subic Bay in the Philippines. The “pivot” to Asia now has a new stopover: Brussels.

After years of discussing the idea, the US and the European Union are finally starting to negotiate a free-trade agreement which would form an economic zone covering 40 per cent of the world’s GDP.

At the same time, momentum is building behind another important trade initiative, the Trans Pacific Partnership which brings together the US with several of the Asia-Pacific’s most dynamic economies, Singapore, Australia, Vietnam and – since two weeks ago – Japan. It will come as a surprise to anyone who spent a lot of time on the campaign trail last year, but free trade agreements have emerged as one of biggest priorities of Barack Obama’s second term.