Incoming President Trump and his team are clearly preparing to raise the stakes in confronting China. Focusing on what they (correctly) view as the main threat to the United States, Trump seems to view Europe as a secondary concern.

But that might not last.

Europe is facing a multi-dimensional set of problems. The continent’s elite, while lecturing the rest of the world about its superior values, have squandered the post-Cold War peace dividend, growing the welfare state, building an unwieldy bureaucracy and creating a flawed currency. Now all that is falling apart.

Confronting China will be difficult and expensive. It will require managing a complex and shifting coalition. But there is at least some structure to the conflict. The problems facing Europe, in contrast, are unbounded, with little leadership and no consensus on how to address them. The result could well be an unsolvable chaotic vacuum — just about the worst possible situation.

America certainly has its own problems, but its demographics are better, and it is home to the most innovative and cutting-edge companies. More importantly, productivity and the economy are consistently growing. By comparison, Europe is practically at a standstill; outside the Dutch semiconductor systems supplier ASML, it is home to few leading technology companies. Worse, the continent seems to have no will to make difficult choices, a situation exacerbated by its common currency.

The adoption and promotion of the Euro is emblematic of Europe’s problems. The existence of the Euro has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with politics and the European elite class.

European political elites have harbored a fantasy of a united Europe for the last 160 years, both as part of their own internationalist vision and as a counter to the U.S. — a nation viewed with a combination of envy and contempt. From the founding of the European Coal........

© The Hill