The Importance of the EU to Trade and Trade to the EU

This chapter introduces the volume’s argument and establishes the significance of its subject. In particular, it sets out how important the EU is in international trade and global trade governance and how important trade policy is to the EU as a constitutive policy, source of legitimacy, and instrument of foreign policy. It also sets out some unresolved tensions regarding the EU’s trade policy—Is it liberal or protectionist? Is it a champion of multilateral rules or a scofflaw?—and contends that a policy sub-system approach helps to resolves these apparent tensions.