Don't forget the EU represents the worlds largest economic area [1], with a population of over 740 million (compared to the US's 320 million). Although it's sma

Don't forget the EU represents the worlds largest economic area [1], with a population of over 740 million (compared to the US's 320 million). Although it's small compared to China's ~1.4 billion. And the of course the big advantage that the EU has over other clusters of countries is the (mostly) unified legal and regulatory system. Which makes it easy to target every country in the EU at the same time. I think the EU has had a lot of soft-power for a very long time, and we are finally starting to see it flexing that power to protect it's citizens. [1]. http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/eu-position-in-world-trade/index_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/eu-position-in-world-trade/...