EU External Trade Policy

The external trade policy of the EU impinges on nearly one fifth of world trade. Hence, an understanding of the principles and practice of the Union's trade policy, the Common Commercial Policy (CCP), is of vital importance to any student of the global trade environment. Ongoing research on the CCP has addressed both broad themes and detailed aspects of the Union's trade policy provides insight into how trade specialists view the EU and, no less important, how the EU sees its own role. A number of features of the EU's CCP make it particularly worthy of study. 1 First, while commercial policy originally focused on tariffs and other border measures as they affected trade in goods, the scope of the policy today is much more diverse. Policies affecting trade in services and the conditions influencing foreign investment have become increasingly important. As tariffs were reduced in