I live in Europe (Sweden, Germany and Switzerland) and I have never needed to sign when paying with card (i.e. the chip – never used the magnetic strip). Perhaps its because you have a foreign card?
This is because US Cards have a Chip but no PIN. So the signature is the only "security measure". I've all but stopped using my US Cards for this reason unless the terminal supports contactless through apple pay
Correct, it’s only for Americans traveling abroad. It’s because our credit cards (finally) have chips but no pin. Apparently chip/pin would cause too much friction in the purchasing process or some nonsense like that?