ABSTRACT
In 1985, Spain and Portugal joined the European Community (EC), expanding its membership to twelve states. Late in 1985, after seven years of complex and difficult negotiations, the European Community of Ten (EC-10) reached agreement with Spain and Portugal to integrate them as new members of the EC. Almost immediately in 1986, however, enlargement touched off a surprising, major commercial dispute between the EC of Twelve (EC-12) and the United States (US). US officials questioned whether the US would benefit from the decrease in Spanish and Portuguese industrial tariffs. The bilateral dispute between the US and the EC erupted during an unprecedented hemorrhage in the global American balance of trade and payments. On the other side of the Atlantic, EC member states had their own strongly held viewpoints on these problems. The EC is a huge player in world trade.
