WHAT HAPPENED TO FORTRESS EUROPE - EXTERNAL TRADE-POLICY LIBERALIZATION IN THE EUROPEAN-UNION

In an era when many fear the breakdown of the global trading order thr ough the emergence of relatively closed regional trading blocs, assess ing the effects of European integration on external European Union tra de is particularly important. Surprisingly, despite a severe recession accompanied by record levels of unemployment, a history of increasing protection under similar economic circumstances, and alarming predict ions about ''fortress Europe,'' external trade policy in the region ha s liberalized in recent years. Prominent trade policy explanations emp hasizing changing interest group demands or changing ideas of policyma kers are inadequate to account for this significant change in trade po licy. Instead, much of this liberalization can be best understood as a n unforeseen consequence of the Single European Act. Completing the si ngle market undermined the effectiveness of national trade measures an d made it difficult to enact new trade barriers, thus producing a libe ral bias in European policy.