Even as Scandinavian furniture has taken a wide portion of the North

Hi
Can anyone please elaborate why option C is incorrect .
It modifies the previous clause correctly
Please suggest where i went wrong

The option C has modifier error. " long frustrating..." cannot modify the previous clause. If you read the sentence carefully you will notice that option C ("American brands are barely visible in Europe", " long frustrating....") implies that barely visible American brand is frustrating executives. this is not possible. What is frustrating the executives? - "a situation" and that situation is - brands are barely visible in Europe.

I hope you can see that the first difference between answer choices is how the portion after "Europe" is constructed.

In A, C, and E it is treated as a modifier, and in B and D it is separated by a semicolon and therefore begins its own clause.
Let's begin with the lowest-hanging-fruit of all modifiers, the "which" relative modifier in choice E. When "which" (or "when" or "where") is used, the modifier must modify the immediately adjacent noun. But "Europe" is not logically "a situation that has long frustrated American executives" so choice E is therefore incorrect.
Choice C is problematic in that the two -ing verbs perform different functions: "frustrating" could properly serve the purpose of a participial modifier at the end of the sentence, but the "is" before "becoming" means that "becoming" is used as a verb and not as a participle/description. This then rules out choice C.
While on the topic of modifiers, be sure that you recognize why "a situation that has long frustrated..." is a properly-used appositive modifier here.
When a noun phrase (such as "a situation") is used in the beginning or in the middle of a sentence as a modifier, it must modify the immediately-adjacent noun. But at the end of a sentence, as "a situation" appears here, that appositive phrase has the leeway to modify the entire preceding clause. Here that modifier is correct.
Choices B and D each separate "the situation" with a semicolon, and that is perfectly allowable in this case. But each commits an error in a different place: in B, the error is the verb "becomes," as in "this is a situation that becomes..."
Because the verb tense of the situation is already set as ongoing ("has long frustrated") and because the idea that this one situation "becomes" (seemingly over and over again, when really it's just one action) is illogical, B is incorrect.
With choice D, the lack of the word "and" between "executives" and "trade" sets up a three-part list, which then fails when the third item is not a noun, but rather a verb "is becoming." Answer choice

A is therefore correct.

VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

As you assess your Decision Points in this problem, you can see that the first difference between answer choices is how the portion after "Europe" is constructed. In A, C, and E it is treated as a modifier, and in B and D it is separated by a semicolon and therefore begins its own clause. Because - if not by now at least by test day - you should be an expert on modifiers, you might begin with the lowest-hanging-fruit of all modifiers, the "which" relative modifier in choice E. When "which" (or "when" or "where") is used, the modifier must modify the immediately adjacent noun. But "Europe" is not logically "a situation that has long frustrated American executives" so choice E is therefore incorrect.

Choice C is problematic in that the two -ing verbs perform different functions: "frustrating" could properly serve the purpose of a participial modifier at the end of the sentence, but the "is" before "becoming" means that "becoming" is used as a verb and not as a participle/description. This then rules out choice C.

While on the topic of modifiers, be sure that you recognize why "a situation that has long frustrated..." is a properly-used appositive modifier here. When a noun phrase (like "a situation") is used in the beginning or in the middle of a sentence as a modifier, it must modify the immediately-adjacent noun. But at the end of a sentence, as "a situation" appears here, that appositive phrase has the leeway to modify the entire preceding clause. Here that modifier is correct.

Choices B and D each separate "the situation" with a semicolon, and that is perfectly allowable in this case. But each commits an error in a different place: in B, the error is the verb "becomes," as in "this is a situation that becomes..." Because the verb tense of the situation is already set as ongoing ("has long frustrated") and because the idea that this one situation "becomes" (seemingly over and over again, when really it's just one action) is illogical, B is incorrect. And with choice D, the lack of the word "and" between "executives" and "trade" sets up a three-part list, which then fails when the third item is not a noun, but rather a verb "is becoming." Answer choice A is therefore correct.

Often we have this notion in mind while doing a GMAT Question that the First choice cannot be correct generally (Being already given). But it equally qualifies to be correct!

(A) is correct.
(B), (C), and (E) inappropriately use "[which/this is] a situation" to refer to the American brands being barely visible in Europe.
(C) inappropriately conjugates the verb "is becoming" rather than using the present participle.
(D) incorrectly creates a list of "furniture executives, trade negotiators, and is becoming"; rather, the situation is becoming.