For me this is why I dislike negotiation games. I used to play at a club I probably would now think of as toxic. One person in particular I can think of as only willing to do deals that were extremely obviously in their favour. This led to them never winning but it would often feel random who they’d inhibit most with who they became the bottleneck for. One person their had some fans so any negotiation game they were involved in was essentially this person playing 3 hands and the other 2 definitely not winning but maybe finishing second. The person(s) not in on that group would just get victimised. Then another group played a bunch of Mall of Horror where it was very much about a pecking order of status from outside the game. Thus it didn’t feel much like a game to me and others who’d occasionally join. I think these groupings really showed to me the whole every game is a negotiation game in a very negative way. It’s what keeps me from really trashing multi player solitaire games as in that context it was often blessed relief from the annoying politics of the situation. Needless to say I didn’t last long there when I was playing board games. There was another group later where we played some Small World. That again devolved in to a popularity contest as who to attack often came down to negotiation and was resolved by non game social standing choices over any attempt to bash leaders of players in a stronger spot. Made me sell the game tbh. I’d played a bunch anyway and it was coming to the end of my enthusiasm anyway but hastened it’s demise.
Now I play with a group that is a bit more appropriately aggro in how they play I’m relaxed somewhat on trading and negotiation. I think maybe Chicago Express has tons of negotiation in it but the auctions and shares soften it somehow. I still feel wary of these games. Chinatown game play just makes me think it’d be a poor fit with how central the negotiation is. Tbh the player who wants deals massively in their favour is still part of my group but has mellowed however maybe not enough for me to fell confident going the full negotiation hog.
The exception I think is Sidereal Confluence. It seems to me to be done in a way that skips many of my major squeamish points. I think that view was reinforced on SVWAG with Walker not liking negotiation games but seeming to have enjoyed some their play of SidCon.
I think it somewhat goes back to what @RogerBW was saying about these games need the right players for you. That is almost always true but I think heightened in trading and negotiation games. This may just be due to my past experiences with these games and I’m wrong about it being heightened.