France
Philippe Martin
Libération
Politicians are puffed up with misplaced outrage, said Philippe Martin in Paris’ Libération. They’ve just discovered that a product manufactured overseas, in Africa, can still be sold under the “Made in France” label. Socialist presidential candidate Ségolène Royal calls this “scandalous.” But it isn’t new. The rule has always been that the “Made in France” label can be used if at least 45 percent of the added value was created in France. What has changed is that, with globalization, the final cost of a product bears little resemblance to the cost of producing it with cheap foreign labor. To further complicate the calculus, the process of adding value can be divvied up among multiple countries. For example, one factory might cut the leather, the next sew the sole, the next assemble the shoe. Soon we will have reached the point where “international commerce is a trade in tasks, rather than a trade in goods.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why is Trump’s alleged strike on Venezuela shrouded in so much secrecy?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Trump’s comments have raised more questions than answers about what his administration is doing in the Southern Hemisphere
-
Vance’s ‘next move will reveal whether the conservative movement can move past Trump’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Why recognizing Somaliland is so risky for IsraelTHE EXPLAINER By wading into one of North Africa’s most fraught political schisms, the Netanyahu government risks further international isolation
