"Misunderstandings." A good one.

Let me explain it to you in the simplest terms imaginable.

Situation:
Tariffs and non-tariff trade bariers between different markets exist. Feel free to call them politics.

Some magic unicorn, free-market, libertarian solution:
Trade barriers magically disappear. But only for me. So I can freely export to other markets, but others wanting to enter my market and compete with me better not even try. Most importantly, all of this happens just because I wish for it. I do not need to do anything: not accept or even consider the other guy's terms and absolutely no compromise.

Real world solution:
Contries X and Y get together and discuss: "Aren't you fed up with all these politics of international trade? Why don't we get rid of them? Let's agree on certain common rules and remove differences between our markets, thus creating a Single Market™. Of course it means both of us will have to give something as well as take but it will be worth it. A country Z can either join us or remain a Third Country™, with all the politics still applying to them like it always used to."

Over time, 2 countries grow to 28. Then one decides to leave and acts surprised to find itself in the position of country Z.
Like I said before, it was too easy to take your luck and privilege for granted and forget to give credit where credit was due.


What is ironic about that? Like I said before, each business has a choice. Is trading outside of our own market worth the hassle? Can we be bothered to set up systems to deal with the politics? Or do we only trade in the market where we do not have to think about it?

Fairphone clearly decided it was worth it. They did it years ago. They had two files - "do not have to deal with politics" and "have to deal with politics" - and systems to deal with them. For them, Brexit was hardly any change. It was simply moving one country from one file to the other.

Jolla, on the other hand, only ever had the "do not have to deal with politics" file. Their choice was either to create the other one (and employ someone to deal with it, with all the extra costs it entails) or, with a sigh, rip a page from the only file they had and throw it away.