It's completely self-inflicted.

Duties, tariffs, out of control regulations and taxes to pay for underperforming civil servant's pension funds. It all adds up.

Also worker protections, public safety nets, and a general desire to not let corporations chew up and spit out people as if they were iron ore.

Workers protections have nothing to do with consumer prices.

Remember that prices in Europe include sales tax, so the price you see is the price you pay. In the US you need to add sales tax on top, and in some places all sorts of random extra charges like ‘employee healthcare mandate’.

So buy here and take it home.

You'll quickly find that the price differences mostly reflect some combination of various laws and taxes. E.g., I recall reading (pre-Brexit) that UK law required shops to have a two-year warranty period for durable items sold. As in, you bought it from them, you could return it to them and get a new item. Or make them deal with the warranty. In the US, almost anything other than dead-on-arrival can (doesn't always, but can) require the consumer to ship it in the original packaging to the manufacturer's service center at their own cost. That is not a free service. And there may be tariffs involved.