Upgrade Listing

The European Union is the world's biggest trader, accounting for 20% of global imports and exports. Free trade among its members underpinned the successful launch 50 years ago of the EU. The Union is therefore a leading player in efforts to liberalise world trade for the mutual benefit of rich and poor countries alike. Increased trade boosts world growth to everybody's advantage. It brings consumers a wider range of products to choose from. Competition between imports and local products lowers prices and raises quality. Liberalised trade enables the most efficient producers to compete fairly with rivals in other countries, whose governments have to cut import duties used to protect national firms.