Batuhan: On the shores of Normandy

LAST week, we wrote about how the European experiment is perilously close to being undone due to the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the union and go its own way.

Just last week, on the 6th of June, the historic and solemn commemoration of the Normandy Invasion–perhaps the key turning point in the war against Nazi Germany–really brought home the dangers that a disunited Europe brings with it. Just a quarter of a century ago, a mere wink of an eye in history terms, the continent found itself in the midst of great conflict, from which it is still trying to completely heal.

Because the British were at the heart of defending Europe from fascist control, one would think they would be the last people on earth who would exert their efforts to extricate itself from closer relations with the continent. And yet they have, in a move that has no precedent and with consequences still undetermined at this time.

While it was the British who seem to have conveniently forgotten the great sacrifice its brave people offered on the shores of Normandy, last week it was the turn of their allies across the Atlantic–the United States of America--to be as equally forgetful.

While attending the solemn commemoration of the D-Day Invasion, when tens of thousands of his fellow Americans laid down their lives for the sake of peace in the world, the controversial president was at his belligerent best, pushing his agenda of imposing tariffs on America’s economic partners, whom he accused of unfairly trading against his country.

From China to Mexico–and other countries in between–he has threatened to slap prohibitive duties on many items that America imports, items that consumers use in their everyday activities and whose increased prices will surely have a profound impact on American consumers and the American economy.

Trump is the ultimate grown-up kid, who is always predisposed to compartmentalizing the world into two opposing groups. The good ones (those who like him) and the bad ones (everyone else who does not like him). It all sounds very simple, right? If only it was.

Not since pre-Bretton Woods days has someone so prominent in the world stage expressed threats against global trade as serious as Trump has. While the avowed objective is to bring unfair trading partners to a halt, quite the opposite in fact will happen when he does carry out his threats.

The whole global economy is based on the idea of free trade, where each country does what it does best and shares the fruits of its efforts with the rest of the world. This is how the world is able to allocate scarce resources and determine which goods and services are made and done where. Everyone with a cursory understanding of elementary economics would have an intuitive sense of this principle at work–but the current president of the United States apparently does not.

Almost all great conflicts come about as a result of bad economies. Desperate people will do desperate things and this is the reason prosperity for all should always be the common goal of all nations and their leaders.

It’s too bad that two of the world’s most staunchly democratic nations are unable to see this reality. For this, they fail to honor the sacrifices of their brave men who spilled their blood on the shores of Northern France, so that the world will be a more peaceful and harmonious place to live for us all.

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