Free trade: Is it really, really dead?

1 What do you think was the most remarkable thing that happened this week?

Well, if you are waiting to be married and are hunting for a relatively cheap property, the biggest news this week is the release of a whopping 10,000 build-to-order and sale-of-balance-flats units on Tuesday. Knowing the government, they will build them spanking nice and new just before they call the next general election.

For the rest of us, the most significant event will probably be Donald Trump releasing a video on Tuesday morning, Asia time, saying that the first thing he will do as President is to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). He prefers "fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores".