customs union

customs union, a trade agreement by which a group of countries charges a common set of tariffs to the rest of the world while granting free trade among themselves. It is a partial form of economic integration that offers an intermediate step between free-trade zones (which allow mutual free trade but lack a common tariff system) and common markets (which, in addition to the common tariffs, also allow free movement of resources such as capital and labour between member countries). A free-trade zone with common tariffs is a customs union.

It has long been recognized that tariff barriers generally reduce the quantity of trade between countries. Under most circumstances this reduction in trade protects certain domestic producers, but it also translates into higher costs for consumers in both the importing and the exporting country. Many governments attempt to resolve this problem by protecting politically favoured producers while also reducing consumer costs. Customs unions, along with other forms of partial economic integration, offer one means of achieving that balance.

In free-trade zones, several countries agree to drop tariff barriers to each other’s goods in the hope that each will capture at least as much of the gains from trading as they face in losses for some domestic producers. One flaw in the free-trade zone approach is the absence of common external tariffs. Since the countries may differ in the tariff barriers presented to the outside world, importers will always prefer to have their materials shipped through low-tariff countries, even if fuel, labour, or other costs are higher. Such roundabout shipping methods are unnecessarily wasteful.

While the common external tariffs levied by a customs union avoid the problem of wasteful shipping patterns, they do not solve the problem of wasteful production, a problem sometimes referred to as trade diversion. Take, for example, a country that charges a set tariff to all other countries for a given good; if trade occurs at all, it will ideally be in goods produced by the lowest-cost foreign producer. The quantity of trade will not be as high as it would be if there were no tariff at all, and too much of the good may be produced domestically at a higher cost, but at least the incremental goods bought from the foreign producer will have been efficiently produced. However, by selectively lowering tariffs to partners in a free-trade zone or customs union, the home country may allow a partner’s producers to sell the good at a lower price, even if the partner’s production costs are higher than the outsider’s. The net effect is to reduce trade with the efficient, low-cost producer. The increased volume of trade in a customs union is sometimes referred to as trade creation.

Other forms of economic integration include common markets, economic unions, and federations. Common markets allow free passage of labour, capital, and other productive resources by reducing or eliminating internal tariffs on goods and by creating a common set of external tariffs. Economic unions closely coordinate the national economic policies of their member countries. Federations (such as the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions) coordinate policy through a federal agency. Examples of customs unions include the Zollverein, a 19th-century organization formed by several German states under Prussian leadership, and the European Union, which was a customs union at one point in its development but later achieved full economic integration as a common market. (See also international trade.)