EU member states suggest Trump bilateral overtures a product of White House influence

Several EU member states believe that Trump administration requests to negotiate bilateral deals with individual countries -- requests that have been rebuffed in deference to the European Commission -- stem from White House advisers acting without secretaries and full staffs at key agencies that might have influenced the U.S. approach, EU sources said. Because member states have ceded the competence to negotiate trade deals to the Commission, they have told the Trump administration they cannot work on bilateral deals, these...