European debt affects Americans

Eight of the U.S. top 30 trade partners are European countries. Americans purchased approximately $478.9 billion in EU goods and services in 2010. Nevertheless, some Americans don’t realize that with our global economy, the crisis in Europe affects the U.S. market. Our economy is closely tied to Europe’s, so it is important to recognize that their debt crisis affects us as well.

Out of 27 EU nations, 17 use the euro as their currency. However, looking at each country’s economy individually, it is obvious that the euro should have a different value in each nation. This creates a problem because wealthier EU nations must now bail the others out, and this new monetary focus could reduce the demand for U.S. products.

In addition to purchasing EU good and services, we export around $399.8 billion in U.S. goods and services to the EU. Obviously, an economic crisis in either country impacts the other. If the debt crisis  became severe enough that EU nations decreased their demands for our products, then there isn’t a need to create more American jobs in our already struggling economy.

It’a important for Americans to realize that we need to pay attention to economies around the world. As we have seen with the European debt crisis, the financial status of our trading partners directly affects our own economic standing. Americans need to be aware of other countries’ economies if we wish to better our own. In our global market, we cannot afford to be self-involved.