“It was a more than even trade, and one which denuded the European nations ...”
The European nations that allied with the U.S. after WWII experienced unprecedented economic growth and political freedom, in contrast to the European nations that allied with the Soviet Union after WWII, which experienced economic stagnation and totalitarianism.
This assumes that the nations which “allied with the US after WWII” (assuming that under military occupation, they had any political or economic autonomy) were at a net negative prior to US sponsored warfare, economic depredation, and occupation/ control of puppet states. They lost political and economic independence and became USA satellites and have been ever since- I was born and raised in Europe in the late 70’s/ early 80’s, I think you would be surprised to see how mean your vaunted “economic growth and political freedom” was on the ground.