Commercial policy
The government policies affecting foreign trade. This covers the use of tariffs, trade subsidies, quotas, voluntary export restraint agreements, and other non-tariff barriers to trade, restrictions on rights of establishment for foreign businesses, and the regulation of international trade in services such as insurance [Black, Hashimzade, Myles, p. 68]. Trade policy not only concerns barriers at the border, but it also affects a wide range of domestic policies. This article consists of four sections. First, the evolving scope of the EU’s trade policy and the dynamics explaining this evolution are covered. In a second section, we turn to the governance arrangements of the Common Commercial Policy, covering the policy instruments used, the applicable procedures followed, and the relevant factors involved [Laursen, p. 71]. The policy rules adopted by a particular country to regulate its foreign trade usually consist of some combination of tariffs, subsidies, quotas, and exchange controls. The commercial policy generally operates between the extremes of strict free trade, which implies no restrictions on the importation or exportation of goods, autarky, or complete economic autonomy and isolation from international countries [Calhoun, p. 69].
Black, J., Hashimzade, N., Myles, G. (2017). A Dictionary of Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Laursen, F. (Ed.). (2021). European integration process. The Oxford Encyclopedia of European Union Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.