Why could Europe provide cotton to the US during the Civil War?

Hello Flossie! In response to the confederates actions on their cotton supply, Europe began importing cotton from places such as Egypt and the East Indies. Continental Europe "had an interest in maintaining a strong United States to balance British economic and military power". Britain and continental Europe found other cotton supplies in 1862.

Cotton diplomacy was the Confederacy's strategy during the American Civil War to force Great Britain and France to support their cause. They did this by stopping cotton exports to Europe, hoping that since Britain and France relied heavily on Southern cotton for their textile industries, they would be pressured into helping the Confederacy.