The European Investment Bank released a survey on Tuesday indicating that firms across the European Union have adapted to higher U.S. import tariffs with limited disruption, while simultaneously making strides in digital adoption that have supported productivity gains.
The EIB Group Investment Survey 2025/2026, compiled from responses by approximately 13,000 companies gathered between April and July last year, documents how EU businesses navigated three concurrent pressures: rapid technological change, demands associated with the green transition, and steep increases in U.S. tariffs.
According to the report, European companies report levels of artificial intelligence adoption that are comparable to those recorded among U.S. firms, a development the survey links to productivity improvements. The data suggest that firms were able to integrate new technologies while adjusting to trade policy shifts.
Trade tensions between Washington and Brussels eased into a framework agreement last July. That deal established a 15% import tariff on most EU goods - a rate that the survey notes was half the level that had been threatened but nonetheless fell short of Europe’s stated aim of a zero-for-zero tariff arrangement.
The survey finds that U.S. companies expressed greater concern than their European counterparts when the United States raised tariffs. Much of the tariff burden has been taken on by U.S. importers, the report says, leaving the impact on EU exporters largely manageable to date.
Despite the relative resilience to external tariffs, the report highlights a persistent internal constraint: differing national laws across the EU’s 27 countries. Those divergences have posed export difficulties for a majority of firms. The EIB survey states that 62% of European companies attempting to sell goods to other EU countries encountered problems associated with those fragmented rules and regulations.
The report quantifies the potential upside from removing such barriers. Eliminating internal frictions could lift the ratio of firm investment to assets by 10%, with even larger improvements projected for intangible investment.
These results are consistent with International Monetary Fund analysis cited in the survey, which estimated that cross-border regulatory divergence inside the EU is equivalent to a 44% tariff on goods and a 110% tariff on services.
Taken together, the EIB findings portray a business sector that has absorbed external tariff shocks and advanced in technology adoption, while still being constrained by the incomplete nature of the single market for goods and services.