According to the IMF, the internal barriers of the European single market are equivalent in cost to a tariff of 44% on goods and 110% on services.

Omissions

• The IMF figures are model-based estimates of the ad-valorem equivalent cost of non-tariff internal barriers, not actual tariffs, and the IMF itself frames the goods figure as an upper bound ('as high as about 44 percent').
• The estimate is methodologically contested: a CEPR VoxEU column (Head & Mayer, 2025, 'No, the EU does not impose a 45% tariff on itself') argues the IMF figure overstates the real cost of EU internal trade barriers. Some secondary sources round the goods figure to 45% rather than 44%.
• The IMF estimate refers to barriers within the EU single market and does not imply that EU member states levy tariffs on each other's goods or services.

Sources

• PrimaryIMF — Europe's Choice: Policies for Growth and Resilience (speech by Kristalina Georgieva)Our estimates suggest that these barriers might be as high as a tariff equivalent of about 44 percent on average for goods trade—three times ... For services, these estimates barriers are even steeper, equivalent to a 110 percent tariff.
• PrimaryIMF Finance & Development — Europe's Integration Imperative (Alfred Kammer)High trade barriers within Europe are equivalent to an ad valorem cost of 44 percent ...
• SecondaryCEPR VoxEU — No, the EU does not impose a 45% tariff on itselfThe IMF estimates that the internal barriers within the Single Market are equivalent to a 45% tariff on goods. And a 110% tariff on services.
• SecondaryPolitico — Slash regulation if you want single market, Germany tells EU... tariffs of 44 percent for goods and as much as 110 percent for services.