But the United States didn’t learn. In the 1930’s it became the first western country to adopt the law that manufacturers must label all products by their country of manufacture. They wanted to boast about what was made in America. But it was an Isolationist move and continued to hurt trade.
Now the southern European countries want to imitate the U.S. in another protectionist move meant to restrict free trade in a time period of economic hardship. No wonder Germany and the northern countries in the European Union are against it. Germany remembers the hyper-inflation of the 1920’s and the collapse of their stock market, the time when money lost all value, followed by the rise of the Third Reich.
So hopefully Germany will continue to say no to its southern neighbors.
