The first many years after WW2 Europe spent rebuilding itself. America came out of the war with barely a scratch on its home territory. Although many American soldiers had died overseas no cities or industries were destroyed and almost no civilians died. In Europe, two generations had been decimated by the two consecutive wars, hundreds of major cities were destroyed, infrastructure was destroyed, businesses - well, entire industries, were destroyed. The iron curtain meant that trading partners in Eastern Europe were no longer accessible.

For America WW2 meant opening up it's trade with the war. Let's not forget that Europe's welfare states were born in hardship.