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Comment by jeidz | Hacker News Reader

Europe is much smaller than you think.

US has 40% of world GDP and EU ~32%. If you include non-EU countries they're neck and neck.

Not quite as small. Combined EU has the largest economy in the world, is by far the wealthiest region on the planet, possesses a huge & advanced military force and despite decline still has pretty substantial manufacturing capacity. (only reason US tops these rankings is because in EU each metric is tracked separately for each country).

So if EU got its shit together and formulated a coherent unified foreign policy - it would be at the very least on equal terms with both US and China. Hence why everyone (from Putin, to China to even our allies the US) are so invested in breaking EU apart (and even succeeding - the Brexit).

> Combined EU has the largest economy in the world

Second largest, at $17.1tn, after the US ($22.7tn), but ahead of China ($16.6tn).[1]

> is by far the wealthiest region on the planet

North America is the wealthiest region, with the United States alone having a total wealth of $126tn. European wealth is around $103tn.[2]

1. World Economic Outlook Database, April 2021

2. https://www.credit-suisse.com/media/assets/corporate/docs/ab...

> Combined EU has the largest economy in the world

Unfortunately (?) not. By nominal GDP the US is the largest. By PPP-adjusted GDP China comes first.

> So if EU got its shit together and formulated a coherent unified foreign policy - it would be at the very least on equal terms with both US and China.

On approximately equal terms, yes, probably.

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