Is there a public sphere which is able to influence the TTIP negotiations? This question summarizes a key puzzle at the heart of trade politics which becomes even more salient as the definition of ‘trade’ has expanded significantly to impact an increasing range of politically sensitive areas of human society. The public face of international trade negotiations varies between, on the one hand, a technocratic ‘club-like’ process which is of interest only to those who have the relevant economic expertise and, on the other, a highly politicized struggle that was most forcefully epitomized in the now legendary battle that took place on the streets of Seattle during the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Ministerial Conference in December 1999.