Press Release: New Commission report assesses European trade strengths in a changing global economy

A new report by the European Commission assessed the competitiveness of the European Union in the global economy at the end of a decade of rapid economic change. Since the mid-1990s, there has been a major redistribution of market share between emerging and developed countries and among developed countries themselves. In this highly competitive environment, the EU has broadly maintained its world market share, while the US and Japan have lost ground. The EU remains the world's biggest exporter of manufactured goods, and dominates markets for high-quality products. The report warned, however, that the EU must focus on investment in its high-technology manufacturing and continue to improve its market share in the fast growing economies of Asia. The report reinforced the economic arguments behind the launch of the European Commission's Global Europe trade policy framework in 2006.