Arrange the sentences in the correct order and answer the following questions.

A. Over the past year, perceptions of relative U.S. economic power have declined in many of America’s key trading partners and allies.

B. Following the onset of the financial crisis nearly a decade ago, Europeans increasingly named China, rather than the U.S., as the world’s leading economic power.

C. This year, however, the pattern has reversed itself again, and in countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain, China is once more seen as occupying the top spot.

D. But in recent years, as the American economy slowly recovered, the pendulum began to swing back in the direction of the U.S.

E. The trend can be seen in several European countries, where views about the economic balance of power have fluctuated in recent years.