Passive = index lol - its passive vs non-passive. Fees do NOT make up a 30% difference in a few years. You are talking 1-3% in 5 years time. Relative performance in an international fund can generate that wide of a discrepancy. For example - invest in Asia and Euro grows faster? Underperform. Opposite is true. Throw in markets like Brazil, China, large cap small cap etc and the variation on international funds is MASSIVE.
It’s not the fees, it’s the “no fund manager ever got fired for buying underperforming big name company” + chasing last year’s hot thing.