Trade and the EU
Within the single European market, EU countries have eliminated all quotas and tariff barriers. They have also eliminated many regulatory barriers through mutual recognition of standards or even harmonisation of some of those standards. As a result, the bulk of every European country's trade is with the other countries of the European Union.
Because there are no internal tariffs, the Union has a common external tariff. It also follows that it negotiates as a single entity in world trade negotiations. In the words of Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson:
'Trade is one of the areas where Member States have agreed to pool their collective weight. Acting as a Union magnifies our influence and amplifies our message. Europe is one of the few global actors big enough to equal the US at the negotiating table.'
The EU is not a 'fortress' with high tariffs erected against the rest of the world. On the contrary, it is one of the most open trading areas in existence. Europe imports more from the third world than the USA, Canada, Russia and Japan combined. Virtually all exports from the least developed countries are allowed onto the EU market duty-free and quota free. The EU has signed free trade agreements with many countries around the world.
Trade and agriculture
Where the EU is vulnerable to criticism is in terms of agricultural products. Yet even here, the EU is the world's biggest importer of agricultural produce from the developing world. It takes almost all of Africa's agricultural exports and almost half of Latin-America's. No other developed country on the planet extends the same openness to agricultural exports from the developing world.
However, the EU still subsidises some of its agricultural exports, which has a damaging effect on the markets of third world countries. Fortunately, in the context of the Doha negotiations, Europe has agreed to eliminate export subsidies entirely over the next few years, and is almost certain to do so even if there is no agreement at Doha. Also in the Doha negotiations, the EU accepted the steepest farm tariff cuts ever accepted as part of a multi-lateral trade negotiation. The protectionist label that, at least in terms of agriculture, has sometimes stuck to the EU is no longer applicable.
Shoes, textiles and China and Vietnam
Controversy on EU trade matters has also arisen recently in the context of safeguard measures and anti-dumping duties that were applied to textiles and to shoes from China and Vietnam.
In the case of textiles, it was the final lifting of quotas in Europe under the WTO's multi-fibre agreement which suddenly and unexpectedly faced Europe with what amounted to an avalanche.
Peter Mandelson commented: 'If it had not been resisted, it would have had the likely effect of burying our market and severely distorting what people produce, how people sell, their profits, their livelihoods and, therefore, their jobs in such a sudden way that I believed it was appropriate - and, in the end, our Chinese trading partners also agreed that it was right and appropriate - to take voluntary cooperative measures to slow down the rapid increase in Chinese textile exports.'
In other words, it was a matter of phasing change in more gradually rather than trying to prevent change, and it was done by agreement with China.
As regards shoes, this was an anti-dumping measure, arrived at after considerable investigation, analysis, recommendation, discussion, debate and finally decision amongst the Member States of the EU. It was adopted because they reached the conclusion that shoe production in China and Vietnam was subject to illegal and unfair state aid - not simply because they could produce more cheaply. State aid is against WTO rules and the EU was entitled to take measures to counter them.
Using the EU's stength to defend exporters
Another aspect of trade is that EU exporters are exposed to trade defence actions by third countries. Where this is not in compliance with WTO rules, the EU uses its collective strength to defend European exporters.
Thus, for example, when the United States erected unreasonable and unjustified tariffs against European (and largely British) steel exports, the EU was able to agree effective countermeasures that eventually led to the United States backing down.
Trade will continue to be in the news at regular intervals. It is a common EU, rather than a national, responsibility, but with Member States setting the general policy in the EU Council of Ministers and the European Commission carrying it out, all subject to the scrutiny of the European Parliament. It is an area where all Member States consider that they benefit by pooling their actions rather than acting autonomously.