According to a new analysis from the European Central Bank (ECB), internal trade frictions within the European Union impose significantly higher costs on commerce than the steepest tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump against the bloc last year.
The ECB research highlights how barriers — such as differences in national rules and regulations, cumbersome administrative procedures, and anti-competitive practices — create intra-EU trade costs equivalent to tariff-like levies of 67% on goods and a staggering 95% on services.These internal hurdles are described as more burdensome than the highest U.S. tariff levels Trump proposed targeting the EU in 2025 – 50% on EU goods, which was simply an opening bid at the start of negotiations.
The findings underscore a recurring theme in recent ECB commentary: while external threats like U.S. tariffs grab headlines, the EU’s own fragmented single market continues to hinder growth and integration far more severely. Economists Lucia Quaglietti and Vanessa Gunnella authored the article, published January 14, 2026.
MacDailyNews Take: ‘Tis shocking that a bloated quasi-governmental bureaucratic blob excretes massive impediments to commerce. Just shocking.
The European Union arose because the Europeans couldn’t compete on their own with the rest of the world, so they each lined up to surrender their national sovereignty, unique cultures, and dignity for an undemocratic, opaque, wasteful, bloated, bureaucratic quasi-governmental blob – and, even with the EU’s thumbs all over the scale, they still can’t compete. — MacDailyNews, March 4, 2024
We usually prefer the government to be hands-off wherever possible, Laissez-faire… Regulations are static and the marketplace is fluid, so extensive regulations can have unintended, unforeseen results down the road. – MacDailyNews, June 9, 2006
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