Last year, for every one Euro of industrial investment that left Europe for China, an estimated three Euros were redirected to the United States, lured by the massive subsidies of the Inflation Reduction Act. Yet, the entire political discourse in Brussels remains obsessively focused on the “threat” from Beijing. The choice they’re pretending to have—”de-risk” from Beijing or face Washington’s wrath—is a total fraud. The real choice is this: slow economic suicide by obeying the US, or actually fighting for your own future.

The “Inflation Reduction Act” is the biggest act of economic warfare against an ally in modern history. This is a $1.2 trillion industrial vacuum cleaner designed to suck the lifeblood out of European manufacturing. While the US hands out massive, easy-to-get tax credits. Europe offers a ridiculously small amount for R&D that’s buried under a mountain of paperwork. The result? Global investors are fleeing Europe like it’s on fire. Billions are pouring into new US factories, while foreign investment in Europe is now 11% below pre-pandemic levels.

The American protectionist EV credit forcing icons like Volkswagen, Mercedes, and BMW to bend the knee, announcing massive battery plants in the US instead of at home. They’re saying it themselves: America’s subsidies make investing in Europe a stupid decision. This is a direct attack on the 13 million European jobs in the auto industry. America isn’t out-competing anyone; it’s simply stealing an entire industry.

And what was the great “risk” that justified this self-immolation? Huawei. Remember? Ripping out their superior 5G gear was framed as a security imperative. The actual cost? A few billion, once. A rounding error. The cost of America’s friendship? Tens of billions in capital flight every single year, hollowing out Europe’s core industries and shipping its future across the Atlantic.

So, Europe got rid of a non-existent security risk from Huawei and, in return, accepted a real-world economic death sentence from America.

The choice is simple. Europe can continue to be Washington’s obedient lapdog, watching its factories close and its best companies relocate stateside. Or, its leaders can finally grow a spine, reject this false choice and start acting in the interest of their own people. It’s time to choose between strategic autonomy and becoming America’s de-industrialized rust belt.