Rising protectionism

The European Union is right to challenge the "Buy American" clause in the economic recovery package currently before the U.S. Congress. This proscriptive move by the Obama administration is the latest outbreak of protectionism around the world, which has seen several manifestations. These include tariffs on imports, anti-dumping measures and blocks on foreign investment.

Even Britain, which prides itself on its appetite for foreign investment, has seen traces of labor market protectionism in recent days. Britain has benefited hugely from the influx of workers from Europe and beyond. As well as an inflow of people into the country, 1.5 million British people have taken the opportunity to live and work across the Continent. Any measures that discriminate against foreign workers in Britain could lead to countermeasures against the millions of British workers overseas.

It is crucial, therefore, that we all continue to defend the free movement of goods and people. We cannot allow the economic crisis to lead us down the path of protectionism. To do so would be a catastrophic mistake that the government, business and workers themselves can ill-afford, as it would leave us worse off in the long run. The EU has a key role to play in standing up to economic nationalism within its borders and in setting an example to the rest of the world outside its borders.

Roland Rudd, London Chairman, Business for New Europe

A timely old tale

David Leonhardt's business column "Making the most of a recovery" (Jan. 31), was crystallized in his retelling of an anecdote attributed to President John F. Kennedy quoting Hubert Lyautey, an early 20th century marshal of France.

One should note that the origin of this anecdote on investing for the future predates the modern era, and can be found in in the rabbinic homilies of the Midrashic literature of the 5th century. Reciting it in full broadens and deepens its wisdom.

A king saw an old man digging a hole. He asked the old man why he was digging. "I am digging a hole to plant a tree," the old man said.

"How old are you?"

"A hundred years old," answered the tree planter.

"What's the sense of planting a tree when you are a 100 years old, you won't live long enough to eat its fruit," the king said.

The old man answered, "If I am worthy, I shall eat the fruit of the tree, if not, as my father labored for me I labor for those who come after me."

This underlying philosophy and confidence in the future was institutionalized by the rabbis in the Jewish New Year of the Trees, celebrated this week, wherein the central ceremony is both the eating of the fruits of the land and the planting of seedlings, symbolic of the wisdom and faith that Leonhardt hopes that the Obama administration possess