“We can not carry on commerce with out battle, nor battle with out commerce,” wrote Jan Pieterszoon Coen, a brutal governor-general of the Dutch East India Firm, to shareholders in 1614. 4 centuries later, issues sound a bit completely different. “Let’s make no mistake: assertiveness is a prerequisite for holding our markets open,” says Sabine Weyand, the EU’s prime commerce negotiator. After many years throughout which America supported the worldwide rules-based commerce order and European commerce thrived, the bloc now has to learn to do enterprise in a fractious world.
