The European Union has concluded free trade agreements (FTAs) and other agreements with a trade component with many countries worldwide and is negotiating with many others. The European Union negotiates free trade deals on behalf of all of its member states, as the member states have granted the EU has an "exclusive competence" to conclude trade agreements. Even so, member states' governments control every step of the process (via the Council of the European Union, whose members are national ministers from each national government):

[EU Free trade agreements

{{legend|lightblue|European Union}} {{legend|green|Agreement in force}} {{legend|lightgreen|Agreement provisionally applied}} {{legend|orange|Agreement signed, but not applied}} {{legend|#ff8080|Agreement initialed, not signed}} {{legend|yellow|Agreement being negotiated}} {{legend|#b3b3b3|Agreement negotiations on hold/suspended|undefined | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/EU///FTA///2024.svg]

Trade agreements in force

Trade agreements provisionally applied

Agreement signed (awaiting application)

Agreements finalised (negotiations concluded, but not signed)

Negotiating new agreements

Negotiations on hold

Obsolete agreements

Competence

The European Court of Justice has held that investor-state arbitration provisions (including a dedicated tribunal planned by some free trade agreements) falls under competency shared between European Union and its member states and that for this reason, the ratification of such mixed agreements should be approved by the EU as well as by each of the union's member states. This court decision has resulted in a new architecture of external trade negotiations which will have two components:

Impact to consumers

One study found that the trade agreements that the EU implemented over the period 1993-2013 have, on average, increased the quality of imported goods by 7% and therefore "lowered quality-adjusted prices by close to 7%," without having much of an impact on the non-adjusted price.