Column: Bon appétit

As a fairly recent descendant of Éscoville, France, I take issue with the spate of anti-French sentiment overwhelming this country. Though I occasionally wear a beret, I do shower most of the time and wear Arm & Hammer deodorant. However, I adore croissants. Dennis Leary once remarked, "Why the French hate Americans: Years ago, they gave us the croissant: 'le cwa-soh.' And what'd we do? We turned it into a 'croissandwich.'"

Yes, the croissant brought French disfavor to the United States. All that flaky, buttery French goodness. And we Americans loaded it with meat, cheese and mayonnaise. Of course, the French are slightly disturbed with America after our snub to their gastronomic culture. Wine and cheese are clearly the next culinary items to get the good ol' American rebuke. Certain politicians, media pundits and private citizens have called for a boycott of French goods in response to the French lack of cooperation in the United Nations. Let's throw out the merlot, break bottles of perfume and cut up lingerie. Less violent folk can elect not to purchase French items and skip the mass wine-pouring on doorsteps. However, a boycott, even with millions of people, is unlikely to cause long-term economic harm and will only continue to strain French-U.S. relations.

A significant percentage of French imports to the United States aren't tangible retail goods. According to The Economist, 44.8 percent of France's exports are intermediate goods, motor vehicles and transport equipment. Less than 23 percent of exports are consumer goods and processed food and drink. These statistics are for their overall export market, not just to the United States. In fact, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy combined comprise nearly half of France's export markets. The United States is France's fifth-largest trading partner, accounting for less than 8 percent of France's export market.

A consumer boycott will have negligible impact on France's export economy. If anything, it will only hurt American retailers who already stock French products that they cannot sell. France doesn't buy back French cheese and wine left sitting alone, sad and destitute, while Australian wine and Dutch cheese fly off the shelves. If we somehow did boycott other goods, such as France's Airbuses, we'd also be hurting other countries and our own, as parts for the Airbuses come from several countries, and the planes themselves are constructed all over the world, including in the United States. Furthermore, French restaurants and hotels are staffed with some or all American workers. Boycotting these services only hurts American managers and employees. Some anti-French boycotters actually want to push the boycott to this level.

Now is not the time to upset Chirac and les Français. The United States needs France and the rest of Europe in the aftermath of war. The United States is amassing a huge deficit and can barely afford this war, let alone Bush's promise of reconstructing the country and providing the Iraqi people food and medicine. Europe has greatly assisted the United States in providing humanitarian and reconstruction aid to post-war Afghanistan, and the United States will surely want the same support in post-war Iraq. This may not be the right timing for a symbolic "Nique-toi la France" in the form of a boycott.

Boycotts aside, with war pending in Iraq as I write, I suppose it might be distasteful to mention the possibility that France has a right not to support the United States in its war effort, even if we have bailed the French out of economic ruin a few times. France is a sovereign nation. In fact, it's a democracy. Maybe the same sort of democracy Bush would like Iraq to become. As a democracy in Bush's democratic vision of the world, France is completely justified in making independent decisions concerning international affairs. I don't think the United States is in the business of training lapdogs akin to the practices of the former Soviet Union. France doesn't agree with the war for whatever reason, and they have no obligation to concede to U.S. demands for cooperation.

And likewise in our supposedly democratic nation, consumers have every right to express their discontent with France's decision or alternatively express joy over possible future discounts on French cheese and wine if a boycott picks up. I'm off to Chez Henry, but I better finish off this bottle of Le Pin from last night.

Christopher Scoville is a Trinity sophomore. His column appears every third Thursday.