> I’d also be curious why the EU doesn’t consistently run trade deficits.
Some EU countries probably do, but because they are smaller economies it seems less critical. Combining the EU economies can hide a Spanish deficit within the German surplus fairly easily. e.g. the German surplus are 10 times higher than the Spanish deficit (if I recall correctly).
The EU viewed as a whole, I don't know, maybe due to a very diverse economy, lower overall consumption, lower EU salaries?
But I also think that EU producers are more competitive. The US has a strong tendency towards local monopolies which are bad for export competitiveness.
The original comment was "if you can conquer US market. you can pretty much do that elsewhere".
US Fast Food has not conquered street vendors.
A quick look at a French theater [1] shows 2 American movies, 2 Spanish movies, and 1 French movie. French culture might be dominated by foreigners but 2/5 isn't domination. Movies also have a similar network effect to software where it's preferable to see the same movies as other people to have a talking point.
Social media (WhatsApp included in here) is probably accurate but that's software which I already gave an out to.
> There's something to that, I think.
There's definitely something to making a compelling product that takes over a local market being desirable by a foreign market. I just don't think there's something special about winning say the US car market over winning the Chinese car market (There is something special about winning the US/Chinese market over winning the Irish market though -- Size).
However, for many goods that aren't protected by a monopoly a local supplier is going to be able to undercut your distribution costs. That's why Finish McDonald's uses Italian beef [2].
You will find MC and BK nearly everywhere. Both selling hamburgers which are invented in Germany. Maybe subway is also kinda wide spread. The other chains aren't as common as you might think. Also all these chains are considered bad for your health and bad to environment, not something we are generally thankful for.
Local charts are not dominated by US music.
Also thanks to Netflix (an US company) we have a lot more European movies today. Nobody likes the same ending where America saves the day, so these movies convert well. US movies have constantly sinking box rates and sales for a while now. The era where everybody watched the new Hollywood movie is long over.
I haven't lost any blood for social media yet. But also here there is a strong and growing sentiment about not trusting the US. Media reports every other week how meta refuses to play with European privacy rules. People aren't using social networks as they used before. And if anything china dominates the market by far.
US fast food slowly spreading like a cancer to cater to lowest social layers ain't something to be proud of. Their products are of much lower quality and taste. Basically spreading obesity, diabetes and cancer further by attacking lowest reward cycles in minds that have lowest control mechanisms.
Its like being proud in pushing PFOAs or BPAs on whole world. Nobody goes around and celebrates Thomas Midgley Jr. or inventor of fentanyl, do we.
Also, this year any US product is much more avoided on purpose, that goes also for pop culture. I specifically avoid them unless they are top of the market by big margin for given money. orange man achieved what many couldn't do in their whole careers - wake up Europe from its cozy naive and stupid sleep.
As you say - in software a US monopoly is usually a ticket to export success. Not so much in other markets. There is a reason the US telcos haven't found much success abroad as opposed to European or Arabian telcos, but prefer to milk off their less competitive home market.
Some EU countries probably do, but because they are smaller economies it seems less critical. Combining the EU economies can hide a Spanish deficit within the German surplus fairly easily. e.g. the German surplus are 10 times higher than the Spanish deficit (if I recall correctly).
The EU viewed as a whole, I don't know, maybe due to a very diverse economy, lower overall consumption, lower EU salaries?