That is because EU has Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and other places where Western Europe partially outsourced parts of its manufacturing. It was more expensive than moving it to China, but otherwise much more convenient and less risky.

In what way? US manufacturing output is almost the same as the EU in absolute value.

Europe still kind of has regional currencies, so that makes manufacturing cheaper in certain countries, while the lower wages still can pay for an acceptable standard of living inside those countries.

EU is also technically slightly larger as an entity and Germany has long been more industrial in its focus and an economic leader.