Scan the text quickly to find that part of it which says about the goals of creating the European

Economic Community. Tell your partner about them.

Tell the group whether the information obtained extends your professional knowledge.

Basic Text. Economic Integration and Trade

Over the last decades new tendencies have developed towards economic integration and liberalization

Of foreign trade relations in the world economy. We may give a number of examples of such

integration on the basis of both economic and political factors: in the time of the USSR there were

* North American Free-Trade Agreement — Североамериканское соглашение о свободной торговле

(США, Канада, Мексика).

18*

The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA or Comecon), the European Economic Community

(EEC) in Europe, and more than 150 countries joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Historically, the first act on the downward trend of tariffs adopted in the United States was the

Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934. Specifically aimed at tariff reduction, the Act had two

main features:

Negotiating authority. This Act authorized the President to negotiate agreements with foreign

Nations which would reduce American tariffs up to 50 percent of the existing rates. Tariff reductions

Were to hinge upon the willingness of other nations to reciprocate by lowering tariffs on American