Trump is wrong: woke' policies aren't the real threat to Europe | Nouriel Roubini

"Donald Trump's new national security strategy offers a misguided assessment of Europe, long regarded as the US's most reliable ally. Unrestrained immigration and other policies derided by administration officials as woke, it warns, could lead to civilisational erasure within a few decades. That argument rests on a fundamental misreading of Europe's current predicament. While the EU does face an existential threat, it has little to do with immigration or cultural politics."

"The real threat facing Europe lies in its own economic and technological backwardness. Between 2008 and 2023, GDP rose by 87% in the US, compared with just 13.5% in the EU. Over the same period, the EU's GDP per capita fell from 76.5% of the US level to 50%. Even the poorest US state Mississippi has a higher per capita income than that of several major European economies, including France, Italy and the EU average."

Trump's national security strategy claims unrestrained immigration and 'woke' policies could erase European civilisation, but the real threat is economic and technological backwardness. The share of foreign-born residents in the US is slightly higher than in Europe. Between 2008 and 2023 GDP rose 87% in the US versus 13.5% in the EU, and EU GDP per capita fell from 76.5% to 50% of the US level. Several major European economies have lower per capita income than the poorest US state. About half of the world's 50 largest technology firms are American; only four are European. Over five decades, 241 US startups reached $10bn market caps, compared with 14 in Europe.

Read at www.theguardian.com