EU trade with the US/North America
In today’s post we are going to be talking about the trade relationship between two powerful giants in the economic field: the European Union and North America.
The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 European states. It is said to be an emerging superpower. It has developed and internal free market, as well as a way of managing its economic relations with the rest of the world as a block. It englobes a 6.78% of the world population and has a nominal GDP of $17.1 trillion.
As we have seen, the European Union is way more than a continent or a territory: it is an institution. What about North America? To understand the trade relationships between this subcontinent and the EU we cannot talk about a corresponding institution, although there is an agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement (from now on referred to as NAFTA). This agreement came into force in 1994 creating a trilateral trade bloc formed by Canada, the United States and Mexico (all of the North American countries). Previously there was a similar agreement that excluded Mexico. However, this agreement doesn’t work in the same way as the European Union does: it doesn’t rule its trade and investment relationships with third party states, it only sets the path for internal exchanges. Because of this we cannot talk about trade relationships between two international institutions. To analyse trade between the European Union and North America we will have to look into the way each country deals with it.
The European Union has the biggest bilateral trade and investment relationship in the world with the United States and they share the most integrated economic relationship in the world. For example, the United States is the biggest export market for Europe. Because of this, both parties are working to sign a new agreement that rule trade and investment relationships between them: the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
The European Union also has a trade agreement with Mexico under the designation "Agreement of Economic Partnership, Political Coordination and Cooperation between the United Mexican States and the European Community and its members". When it came into force taxes applying to a large quantity of importing goods where eliminated or reduced.
Recently an agreement came into force as well with Canada: the COMPREHENSIVE Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). It makes it easier to export goods and services, benefitting people and businesses in both the EU and Canada.
In the following entries in this brand new blog we will work to help you understand trade between the European Union and North America in the simplest way possible.
http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-nafta-and-eu http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/ceta/
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