“When goods cannot cross borders, armies will.” The aphorism by Cordell Hull, a former US secretary of state, is one of the pithiest and most powerful rationales ever advanced for free trade. Put another way, economic integration fosters wealth creation; and wealth creation fosters security.
The axiom has served Europe well: expanded commercial links are the cement for the political building blocks that have made another war between its citizens unthinkable. It has also proved its worth in east Asia, although or perhaps because the region lacks Europe's common rules and mechanisms for co-operation.
