> The first and most clearly top of mind recently is the US defense umbrella which allows the EU to invest on other things instead of defense.
And also to have the US stay in control, that was the deal post WW2. This is changing though, looking at how much EU countries spend in terms of GDP they are slowly closing in on the US. Some countries are even outspending the US on this metric. There is a real urgency to become independent of the US for our security of course. Thanks to both Trump and Putin.
> Another less talked about is how the US subsidizes most of global R&D for healthcare by virtue of the obscene amount Americans pay and hence make profitable that industry to the benefit of all of humanity.
This puzzles me most, Americans clearly do not benefit from the arrangement. They spend vast amounts on healthcare, way more than almost any other country, and the health outcomes are quite mediocre. This is not in the interest of the average American, its a broken model.
> For American companies to contemplate selling into or building offices and having employees in Europe is to contemplate a set of trade-offs.. there's a reason why European employees are typically paid far less, it has to do with the fact that there's far less flexibility if they are a bad hire coupled with the fact that they have much better benefits provided by their governments and hence their money goes a lot further. That is of course related to the fact that they are not generally paying much for defense.
I don't think this is the case. America is spending way more on defense, but in terms of GDP its still just 3.5% or so whereas the mean EU country spends just slightly under 2%. I think its rather the sheer size of the US economy and the VC money going into it to stay competitive. When you look at lower paid jobs vs cost of living instead of the privileged, the story is quite different. There is a lot of poverty in America. If you have no education, in most EU countries you don't need 3 jobs just to make ends meet, even with heavy taxes.
> As much as many Europeans may loathe the united states, in the grand scheme of things we are far more interwoven with each other and ultimately entering a new cold war with China and decisions will need to be made over time around where to place bets around self-reliance. I'm sure Europeans love to sell to China but they will not love the glut of Chinese Imports that will decimate their protectionist economies at a level far more aggressive than they've ever experienced across the Atlantic
Absolutely, the EU is no saint. As a general rule, its easier to loathe those that are most like us but just not us. The United States are almost as interwoven with China and in love with its cheap labour and resources as the EU though. And very dependent on it. And I think both the US and EU are now realizing this has a security risk.
However, as the article points out, there is a strong conviction in the EU that economic interdependence prevents war. To the point of ideology I might add, because a lot of Europeans were sure that economic interdependence with Russia would prevent Putin going to war, to the point of blindness. After Ukraine, this doctrine has been challenged to say the least.
Europe is changing now. And so is the US.