ABSTRACT
Within the tariff walls of the Single Market live 368.7 million consumers with an aggregate GDP, in 1993, of 5.8 trillion ECUs. In terms of sheer economic presence, the Union is only, at the moment, rivalled by the United States. Comparable figures for the USA show a significantly smaller population of 258.3 million people but a slightly larger economy with a GDP of 6.052 trillion ECUs (Commission 1995h:18). Although the US and EU currently constitute the largest economic entities on earth in GDP terms (Japan has a GDP of 2.43 trillion ECUs), they have only 4.6 per cent and 6.6 per cent of global population respectively.1
