It was the counterpart to the common market, and later the single market, governing the Community's relations with all its trading partners. This common policy has grown in importance with the globalisation of the economy and successive enlargements of the EU, which now rivals the United States in economic importance. The European Union accounts for a fifth of world trade and is a key player in globalisation. The objectives of the common commercial policy, therefore, are on the one hand to defend the commercial interests of the EU and its economic operators and, on the other, to provide rules for globalisation that will be accepted by all parties. The EU defends its commercial interests bilaterally and multilaterally.
Services dominate European business.
The completion of the single market in 1992 boosted intra-Community trade and increased the EU's openness to the rest of the world.