A Guide to Orbiting Europe: An Analysis of Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade Between the Single Market and Non-EEA European States

Abstract

The European Union has economic gravity. More specifically, the EU’s economic gravity is captured by the European Single Market. Whereas the EU has a broad political mandate, the Single Market’s focus is uniting Europe’s economies. On the global stage, the economic gravity of the European Single Market is so overwhelmingly powerful that trying to exist only on the perimeter of the orbit would cause long-term political and economic frictions and enshrine structural inefficiencies in domestic law. These ramifications result in unnecessary losses from misaligned regulations leading to decreased trade and inefficient production. The partial access that countries not part of the Single Market are able to negotiate for currently costs them influence over European decision making and swathes of market access in sectors which are not subjects of these trade deals. From the perspective of the United Kingdom, sovereignty is valued over Single Market membership, where sovereignty is defined as the ability of a country to control its domestic law. This was seen clearly in the Brexit vote, where Britons expressly decided that the costs of the European Union were too great to bear.1 However, I will argue that it is a mistake for countries on the outer orbit of the EU to resist the pull of the Single Market. I will demonstrate the economic gravity of EU states in trade and strength at the negotiating table because of the strategic wielding of its massive consumer base. Next, I will analyze why this is a problem for countries trying to achieve an imagined “best of both worlds” by positioning themselves at the edge of the European orbit. I will analyze possible paths forward by looking at the case for unilaterally implementing European law into domestic legislation with Switzerland as an exemplary case which is nevertheless inalienably flawed. I will conclude that even a country like the United Kingdom, the largest economy on the perimeter of the European community, feels the immense pull of Europe’s economic gravity and must continue to align itself further with Europe, or else face the consequences of failing to pick a path.