Ideally, what you say is true. Having a multipolar world with two large and powerful liberal democratic powers would be far better. But practically I don't think Europe is cohesive enough for it to work. France will do their thing, Germany will do theirs, and the UK brexited so they could do theirs.

But lots of little powers are not necessarily weaker and can organize along various lines separately. Consider NATO countries all being separate but fighting together as a block as an example.

I don't know how Europe would benefit much from deeper ties with America. America is selling them energy now at 3-4x the price they paid before, is more expensive in terms of goods and labor too, and has this annoying habit of political trickery. China is a better partner in almost every way that matters: labour cost, energy cost, high tech, and keeping their promises.

If you are concerned about their human rights record, I am too. But trading with them doesn't cause more human rights abuse... it improves both Europe and China in economic ways having nothing to do with the human rights abuses.

I guess I'm just saying that you can't fix everything, and every move should be judged on its own merits.