One reason America has become the economic superpower is that the 50 states comprise one giant free trade zone.

The Europeans wanted to emulate that model with the creation of the EU, but it hasn’t worked. Here is a stunning fact from the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Sternberg:

The International Monetary Fund calculates that Europe’s complex economic regulations impose the same costs as would a 44% tariff on goods traded between EU countries. For services, the costs of complying with different national rules are equivalent to a 110% tariff. By comparison, the regulatory costs associated with trading manufactured goods across state lines within the U.S. amount to a 15% tariff.

Those are the INTERNAL barriers to trade between EU member countries, which is nothing like the free trade zone it purports to be.  And of course, American businesses face all of those same country-level regulatory barriers when they do business in Europe, PLUS another huge thicket of red tape at the EU level.

When it comes to European protectionism, it’s the regulations, more so than the tariffs that are causing sclerosis. The Brits were smart to get out while the gettin’s good.