TEXT OF STORY

Bill Radke: The U.S., Britain, Germany and other members of the Group of Seven nations
are meeting in Rome today. The focus is on a lesson we all learned in pre-school. Marketplace’s Jennifer Collins reports.

Jennifer Collins: Cooperation. That’s one way to look at it.

Lost: If we can’t live together, we’re gonna die alone.

And that’s another way to look at it.

There are reports some of the nations want the meeting to produce a renewed focus on free trade. With U.S. lawmakers throwing around things like a “buy America” clause, some are worried that free trade could go by the wayside.

Germany’s finance minister says that if nations turn inwards — if they resort to protectionism — they may find out what a Great Depression is really like.

His comments were well timed. Just today, Berlin reported the country’s economy shrank by more than 2 percent in the fourth quarter. That’s the most since its west and east sides reunited nearly 20 years ago. And other European nations aren’t faring much better.

I’m Jennifer Collins for Marketplace.