ABSTRACT
Trade is one of the spheres where the European Union has been able to ‘wield considerable influence’ (Smith, 2011: 188). In fact, unlike other, more traditional powers, some authors consider the EU a ‘trade power’ (Meunier and Nicolaïdis, 2006) or a ‘market power’ (Damro, 2012), which captures the understanding of the EU as an actor that successfully influences others through the size of its market and through mutual trade relations. The EU is an active player in international trade negotiations both multilaterally and bilaterally, within international organizations, such as the WTO, and through concluding free trade agreements respectively (cf. Young and Peterson, 2014). Trade is also an important aspect of other EU external policies, notably development cooperation.
