Okuzeka
Economics vocabulary · Trade and Exchange Rates

Customs union

Meaning in economics, with examples

nounCommon term

In economics, customs union means: An agreement between countries to remove tariffs on trade with each other and to apply the same tariffs to imports from outside the group.

In Turkish: gümrük birliği

How it is used

It goes further than a free trade area, where each member keeps its own external tariffs. Turkey has been in a customs union with the EU since 1996; it covers industrial goods and processed agricultural products, but not services or most farm products.

Example sentences

  1. Under the customs union, industrial goods move between Turkey and the EU without tariffs.

  2. Members of a customs union must apply a common external tariff.

Common collocations

  • EU-Turkey customs union
  • common external tariff
  • join a customs union
  • modernise the customs union
  • free tradeInternational trade with few or no barriers such as tariffs, quotas or subsidies, so that goods and services move freely between countries.
  • tariffA tax that a government charges on goods when they are imported, which makes foreign products more expensive compared with local ones.
  • exportA good or service sold to buyers in another country; as a verb, to sell goods or services abroad.
  • importA good or service bought from producers in another country; as a verb, to bring goods or services in from abroad.
  • protectionismPolicies that shield domestic producers from foreign competition, for example through tariffs, import quotas or subsidies.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Trade and Exchange Rates

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not financial advice.