1) The author argues that Americans should care about Brexit because it could negatively impact peace and prosperity in Europe by fueling nationalist movements and potentially causing countries to leave the EU. 2) A breakdown of the EU single market through Brexit would make trade and travel across Europe more complicated and costly for both European countries and American companies doing business in Europe. 3) Brexit could weaken the UK's role as a gateway for US businesses to access the EU single market, negatively impacting the $558 billion US companies have invested in the UK.

1. Overseas, Not Overrated
Why Americans Should Care About Brexit
Kaitlin Zurkammer
July 6, 2016
There’s a stereotype that Americans are ignorant, especially when it comes to politics.
Being American, this can be rather offensive, but I will be the first to admit that it’s far
from false. A 2007 National Constitutional Center poll found that two-thirds of
Americans can’t even name all three branches of the U.S. federal government.
A perfect example to display this “American ignorance” popped up on my Twitter feed a
couple weeks ago:

2. Normally, I wouldn’t think twice about a tweet like this. Embarrassingly enough, I’ve
done a pretty good job, in the past, upholding this “ignorant” stereotype. I’ve never been
one to care about politics, let alone European politics. But spending this summer abroad
in Belgium has really opened my eyes to how I, and the majority of Americans, are
dangerously ignorant to the world around them. Brexit is bigger than some made up
blended word, it’s bigger than the U.K. and even bigger than the E.U.
*****
The E.U. was established after WW2 to create peace and prosperity. Ever since, it has
done its job, creating a single market that regulates free movement of people, goods and
services and fuels economic growth. If Brexit creates a domino effect and more and more
countries start leaving the E.U., the union will no longer survive. Peace and prosperity
will be replaced with conflict and loss, and if history repeats itself, there is no question
that the U.S. will be involved.
I spoke with Frank Versmessen, head of Regulatory Affairs at the Society for Worldwide
Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), about the issue. “It (Brexit) is not just
about the U.K.; it could have a spill-over effect. It could enact nationalist forces where
populists will try to take advantage of the situation to create turmoil,” he said. “Just
imagine the world before 1950. The Americans were getting involved in war back then.”
A broken E.U. could also mean much more expensive trade across Europe. The single
market of the E.U. provides the advantages of wider choice, better quality and lower
prices. The U.S. can buy goods and services from anywhere in the EU without having to
worry about different contractual conditions between each country.
Very similar to the issue of trade is the issue of travel. Frank Versmessen from SWIFT
did a great job of explaining this issue.
“If you want to travel fast, you travel a lot. If you want to travel far, you travel in a
group,” Versmessen said.
In the same way that a broken E.U. will cause trade to be much more complicated and
costly, a broken E.U. will cause travel across Europe to be quite a headache.
Another issue is the U.K. has been the USA’s primary connection to the E.U. in the past.
Illinois State Representative Dan Brady gave me some good insight on his fears.
“The U.K. will no longer be a gateway to the E.U. that it once was,” Brady said.
“Relations between the U.S. and the E.U. must be stronger in the future.”
According to the Financial Times, U.S. companies have invested $558 billion in the U.K.
Meanwhile, a recent survey by BritishAmerican Business said that 88 percent of U.S.
companies in the U.K. believe that the U.K.’s access to the E.U.’s single market is the
main appeal of the UK for American business.

3. The single market provides a large market to sell into without the burden of tariffs at
internal E.U. borders. Companies can also organize their supply chains using any supplier
within the E.U. All of this results in the potential for businesses to maximize efficiency
and be much more competitive. The single market of the E.U. is what allows companies
to grow. If the U.K. loses access, so will all U.S. businesses based in the U.K.
Following Brexit, American businesses will have to either consider other options (which
could be quite costly), or take the risk of keeping the U.K. as their gateway to the E.U.
(which is filled with uncertainty and could cause severe economic loss). In other words,
it’s a lose-lose situation. Leaving the U.K. to find other places within Europe to do
business will likely cause economic damage in the short run, while staying in the U.K. to
weather the storm will likely cause economic damage in the long run.
Although the Brexit issue might seem like it’s physically distant, theoretically it is
anything but. It might not cause the existence of porn, pizza, WiFi or sports to be at stake,
but it clearly has the potential to change the world as we know it.
As Danielle Pletka, senior vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the
American Enterprise Institute said, “Brexit could be a wake-up call, or it could be 1933
all over again.”

4. Works Cited
Brady, D. (2016, July 5). Email interview.
Commission, European. "Europe's Single Market Benefts EU Citizens and Businesses."
(n.d.): n. pag. Http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publications/docs/citizens_en.pdf.
European Commission Internal Market and Services. Web. 2016, July 6.
Versmessen, F. (2016, July 5). Phone interview.
Whitman, E. (2016, June 23). Brexit and US: How British EU Exit Would Affect
Americans. International Business Times. Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.com/brexit-
us-how-british-eu-exit-would-affect-americans-2384835 .
2016, June 25 . How Brexit Will Change the World. Politico Magazine. Retrieved from
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/06/brexit-change-europe-britain-us-
politics-213990 .