{"id":30143,"date":"2026-08-20T20:23:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T17:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=30143"},"modified":"2026-08-20T20:23:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T17:23:04","slug":"the-economic-gap-between-the-eu-and-the-us-is-deepening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=30143","title":{"rendered":"The Economic gap between the EU and the US is deepening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The nominal GDP of the United States is expected to reach $32.4 trillion in 2026, compared to just $23 trillion for the European Union, according to forecasts by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (World Economic Outlook, Global Economy in Crosscurrents of War and Technology<\/a>) .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that the combined economies of the 27 EU member states will account for just 71% of the US economy, confirming the widening economic gap between the two sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europe is losing ground due to lower productivity, demographic problems, greater dependence on international trade, exchange rate fluctuations and a series of economic and geopolitical crises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A development that is considered inevitable<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current picture is completely predictable. The European Union has faced a series of shocks that have undermined its growth momentum and weakened the resilience of its economic model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2008 global financial crisis, Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, energy crises, trade tariffs and the turmoil in the Middle East have put continuous pressure on the European economy, limiting growth and investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Productivity is the biggest problem<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 70% of the difference between the European Union and the United States in GDP per capita in purchasing power parity terms is due to the lower productivity of the European economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US economy produces more value per worker, which translates into higher incomes, greater competitiveness and faster economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The euro and Brexit have weighed on the picture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exchange rates have a significant impact on comparisons between economies. A depreciation of the euro automatically reduces the nominal GDP of the European Union in dollar terms, even if real output in factories and farms remains unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the UK\u2019s departure from the EU has deprived the European bloc of one of the world\u2019s largest economies, reducing its overall economic weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demographic developments also play a significant role, as an ageing population and slowing labour force growth limit Europe\u2019s growth potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dependence on international trade increases vulnerability<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European economy relies much more on international trade than the United States. As a result, tariffs, sanctions, trade restrictions, technical regulations and new industrial policies implemented by major economies disproportionately affect the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Access to foreign markets is a vital prerequisite for maintaining European growth, which makes the EU more exposed to international turmoil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does the US need a strong Europe?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the widening gap, the United States still has an interest in maintaining an economically stable Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union remains one of Washington’s most important trading and investment partners, while the continent’s economic stability is considered crucial for the overall balance of the global economic system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, IMF data shows that the gap between the two largest Western financial centers continues to grow, intensifying concerns about Europe’s long-term competitiveness vis-\u00e0-vis the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The nominal GDP of the United States is expected to reach $32.4 trillion in 2026, compared to just $23 trillion for the European Union,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[859,5],"tags":[1543,1983,25,470,2530,70],"class_list":["post-30143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics","category-economic","tag-budget-deficit","tag-economy","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-trade","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30145,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30143\/revisions\/30145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}