Economics

Here’s How the European Union Runs a Trade Surplus With...Itself

  • German study suggests widespread VAT fraud may be to blame
  • EU nations could be losing more than 60 billion euros a year

    

Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
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The European Union has a growing trade surplus with itself, a statistical discrepancy that may indicate value-added tax fraud of more than 60 billion euros ($67 billion) a year, according to a study by two leading German research institutes.