THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE: THE NEW SUPERPOWER AND THE END OF AMERICAN SUPREMACY, By T.R. Reid


11 Colum. J. Eur. L. 717 (2005)

reviewed by Thomas Daemen.

Americans are blissfully unaware that a new economic and political power is challenging the country’s global dominance. Or so a group of authors believe. Back in the 1980s the best seller lists were filled with texts detailing Japanese business acumen; today, the alleged threat is Europe. T. R. Reid’s The United States of Europe: the New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy’ is one of several books contending-often with vastly different perspectives and arguments-that the European Union now calls the shots on many global issues. That the recently enlarged E.U. of 25 countries is the world’s largest free trade zone and a major economic power is clear. Whether Reid is correct about what this new reality means for the United States, however, is not at all certain.