PALO ALTO, Calif. — The fact that America's economy is slowing is bad news for Europeans, regardless of claims that Europe's economy has successfully decoupled itself from the United States. Decoupling is an idea that is based on bad economics — and on some Europeans' reluctance to accept the fact that Europe's short but sweet economic expansion is also coming to an end.
True, the U.S. market has become less important for European exports, while Asia's trade significance for Europe has grown. So what? Trade is just one among the many linkages between the U.S. and European economies that matter. In today's inter-connected global economy, uncertainty about the U.S. economic outlook increases one day, and Dutch consumer confidence, for example, takes a tumble the next.
The links between Europe and America are, frankly, much more complex than the advocates of decoupling appreciate.