The shameful protectionism of the big Chicago futures exchanges in trying to block competition from Eurex on their home turf has given a whole new meaning to the term Windy City.

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) are running scared. Their behaviour demonstrates that when protectionism rears its head in the world's largest economy, it does not make much difference whether the issue is imports from China or foreign exchanges trying to move into the domestic market.