Buy
American? No Thanks, Europe Says, as Tariff Backlash Grows.
A shifting
perception of the United States amid President Trump’s trade war is prompting
Europeans to pivot decisively away from U.S. goods and services.
Liz Alderman
By Liz
Alderman
Reporting
from Paris
May 5, 2025
For
motorcycle lovers in Sweden, Harley-Davidson is the hottest brand on the road.
Jack Daniel’s whiskey beckons from the bar at British pubs. In France, Levi’s
jeans are all about chic.
But in the
tumult of President Trump’s trade war with Europe, many European consumers are
starting to avoid U.S. products and services in what appears to be a decisive
and potentially long-term shift away from buying American, according to a new
assessment by the European Central Bank.
In April,
Mr. Trump imposed a 10 percent blanket tariff on America’s trading partners,
and threatened “reciprocal tariffs” on many of those, including the European
Union. Companies like Tesla and McDonald’s are seeing customers in Europe put
off by “Made in America.”
“The newly
imposed U.S. trade tariffs on European products are causing European consumers
to think twice about what’s in their shopping cart,” the European Central Bank
wrote in a blog post about its research on consumer behavior. “Consumers are
very willing to actively move away from U.S. products and services.”
Europeans
had already begun testing grass-roots boycotts on American products, including
Heinz ketchup and Lay’s potato chips, shortly after Mr. Trump took office. His
threats to take over Greenland, part of Denmark, energized Danes to organize
no-buy campaigns on Facebook. Tesla owners in Sweden slapped “shame” bumper
stickers on their cars to distance themselves from Elon Musk, the Tesla chief
executive, who is one of Mr. Trump’s top advisers.
But
Europeans’ anguish over Mr. Trump’s treatment of America’s longtime allies has
hardened as he has moved to rewire world trade with steep global tariffs, the
central bank found.
Mr. Trump
took particular aim at the European Union, which he called “very, very bad to
us” for not buying more from the United States, and threatened the bloc with a
20 percent “reciprocal” tariff last month. Such talk bewildered many Europeans
and rattled E.U. leaders, who retaliated with a 25 percent duty on many U.S.
goods.
Both sides
called a temporary truce after Mr. Trump abruptly reversed course and delayed
tariffs until the summer. But the 10 percent base-line tariff is still in
place, and a trans-Atlantic trade war could easily flare again.
And even if
a trade deal is reached, Europe’s newfound wariness of its longtime ally will
not easily be unwound. The European Central Bank’s study found that even if a
mere 5 percent tax was placed on American products sold in Europe, Europeans
would be inclined to shun them.
What is new,
the central bank said, is a “preference” among European consumers “to move away
from U.S. products and brands altogether,” no matter what the cost. That was
the case even for households that could bear the brunt of higher prices.
“Even though
they could afford more expensive U.S. products and services, they consciously
choose alternatives,” the bank said. “This suggests that consumers’ reactions
may not just be a temporary response to tariff increases, but instead signal a
possible long-term structural shift in consumer preferences away from U.S.
products and brands.”
In Germany
and Italy, developers have created apps that scan grocery and clothing items
for people who want to make sure they are not buying American. The top app,
BrandSnap, even suggests European alternatives.
On a
French-run “Boycott USA!” Facebook channel with 31,000 members, people boast
about buying Adidas, a German brand, over Nike and New Balance, and post
stories about avoiding travel to the United States.
In a Danish
Facebook group with 95,000 members, people try to help one another figure out
if products like Gillette Mach 3 razor blades or Schweppes soda are from the
United States. One run from Sweden promotes alternatives to Airbnb and is
calling for a European boycott on Meta platforms for a week in May.
Europeans
have also posted online to say they have begun canceling subscriptions to U.S.
streaming giants, including Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.
Some
consumers who have boycotted Amazon have gone online to lament that delivery
from alternate e-commerce platforms in their countries is slower or less
reliable, but say they are staying the course.
Millions of
people still buy American goods and services worldwide, but U.S. companies and
investors are keeping a close eye on international markets for signs of
anti-American sentiment related to Mr. Trump’s policies.
In Europe,
Tesla sales continued a sharp decline in April, data showed, including an 81
percent plunge in Sweden from a year earlier, as protests against Mr. Musk’s
political views held steady.
And
McDonald’s said it was observing growing negative attitudes abroad toward U.S.
brands, especially in Northern Europe and Canada.
International
consumers are “going to be cutting back their purchase of American brands, and
we’ve seen an uptick in anti-American sentiment,” the burger chain’s chief
executive, Chris Kempczinski, said in a call with analysts last week.
The
McDonald’s brand does not seem to have been damaged yet — same-store sales in
Canada and Europe were down only 1 percent in the first quarter from a year
earlier. But there is an “eight- to a 10-point increase in anti-American
sentiment,” he said.
Liz Alderman
is the chief European business correspondent, writing about economic, social
and policy developments around Europe.
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