A small open economy such as Ireland can serve as a useful case study for the assessment of trade effects. Over the last three decades, the combined value of Ireland’s imports and exports has risen from around 60 per cent to over 105 per cent of GDP, a level now surpassed in the European Union (EU) only by BelgiumLuxembourg (Figure 10.1). This rapid expansion of trade took place against a background of an increasingly open trade regime. The milestones in Irish trade liberalization were the AngloIrish Free Trade Agreement of 1965, accession to GATT in 1967, membership of the EEC in 1973 and the ongoing implementation of the EU’s ‘1992’ Single Market programme.