In 1961, Ireland applied to join the European Economic Community. 6. The extent of our openness also complicates the interpretation of our statistics, so it is important to look at a number of measures of trade for example than gross exports and imports. 7.
Using the OECD WTO TiVA database (2014) indicator “Domestic value added in foreign final demand- partner shares” the US demanded 18 per cent and the sEU excluding the UK accounted for 33 per cent. 8. Merchandise exports are often used to measure Irish goods exports as they do not include contract manufacturing for example.