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Hans’ tweet on @WeyandSabine ‘s appointment deserves a comment - on personal continuity in trade talks (thread)
@WeyandSabine Trade is a complex topic. Part of it is abstract knowledge. You can learn that. There’s university teachers who teach trade (yeah!), books, articles....
@WeyandSabine But then there’s having been at the table. Knowing what was discussed, rejected and why. Having discussed the wording. Knowing which problems it solves, which ones it glosses over.
@WeyandSabine What does that mean in practice? Imagine a smart knowledgeable negotiator who has sat through three years of negotiations negotiating with an equally smart negotiator who just was thrown into the team.
@WeyandSabine The new guy says: let’s try X. The experienced goes ‘we did. It didn’t work. Here’s why’. The new guy says ‘let’s check the situation on the ground in NI. Didn’t you do a scoping exercise there?’
@WeyandSabine The experienced says: ‘yes. Here’s what the reports on it won’t tell you.
