Europe regulated itself into American vassalage

It is fascinating that Americans started to call Europe their vassals after Iran war and Greenland snafu, exactly when Europeans pissed them off by not joining in despite the pressure.

But somehow, relatedly, Venezuela is not an American vassal despite actually practically being exactly that (including the resources extraction part).

So now apparently, buying American stuff makes country an American vassal which I guess means that other countries should stop buying from American companies as much as possible.