Europe and America put a brave face on a growing economic rift

A useful contrarian indicator for gauging the substance of international talks is whether negotiators talk about concrete. The more they do, the less they tend to achieve. The Trade and Technology Council (TTC), a forum for the EU and America to co-ordinate regulation, appears to prove this admittedly cynical rule. At its latest meeting on December 5th, the White House said it had advanced “concrete action” on transatlantic co-operation by launching new “concrete initiatives”, while a joint statement with the Europeans promised yet more “concrete outcomes” and “concrete actions”.