TL;DR in EU, "strong" countries protected their national companies; weaker or smaller ones didn't

=> short term gain, free profits for eg FR or DE companies being allowed to devour other smaller countrie's markets

=> big country corpos get used to "almost free lunch"

=> big EU corpos fail to innovated and become uncompetitive globally

=> US ans CN corpos try instead to come with their increased efficiency and innovation at the EU market

=> EU freaks out and throws random restrictions and fines and regulations

=> only the most aggressive and ruthless CN (Temu etc) and US companies get through

=> they mostly rape the s out of EU markets

=> EU tries to protect its markets but its institutions have been regulatorly captured

=> [dark spiral goes on and on...]