Let&#x27;s say you&#x27;re a random African country negotiating a trade deal with the US.<p>- you have a nascent agroculture sector that could benefit from some lower tarifs on exports to the US.
- you also have some labour preference laws in your existing oil industry (this is quite common).<p>Because the only people in the US who care about your country are probably the Oil Companies operating there, getting rid of the labour restrictions in the oil industry is a priority on the US side.
And lower tarrifs on your Cocoa or Vanilla exports wouldn&#x27;t cost much.<p>But you know those entrenched local workers in the oil industry are a powerful lobby in your country. You know they will raise hell if those restrictions go away. 
And you know they&#x27;ll probably win if you don&#x27;t have something to show for it. Something real and something a more powerful &quot;lobby&quot; (like millions of farmers) will support.<p>Do you really think it&#x27;s smarter to have that fight back home before starting the negotiations ?