Fifty years ago, the Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community (EEC).
The Single European Act (1986) planned a common market for December 1992 : borders wouldn’t be an obstacle anymore to trade: two European regions would trade as much, whether there were a border between them or not.

Yet, the “border effect” exists still.

Estimations show that, inside Europe, a border reduces trade between two regions by 13 times, on average at the end of the nineties. Twenty years earlier, a border cut trade by 20 times.

This border effect is very different from product to product: it is of 2 for trade of Professional and scientific equipment, or Leather products, but is above 30 for Beverages, Food and Metal products. The Single Market improved the integration of the European market, but didn’t lead to the dynamic which Canada and the United States met with the Free Trade Agreement of 1989.