Buy American? No Thanks, Europe Says, as Tariff Backlash Grows.
As Backlash to Trump’s Tariffs Grows, Europe Boycotts American Brands
cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/63258761
Boyfriend asked me to buy detergent yesterday. Ariel specifically, and I looked up the company owning Ariel to make sure they weren't American, but they were, so I went with the local discount brand instead.
There are very few exceptions I have made where I still use American products, but for the most part, I avoid murican.
We had a comical example of the boycot over the weekend. In my city Burger King is right next to Sunset, which is a Danish owned fast-food restaurant. We were going on a longer trip and needed some fast and easy food along the way. We arrive. Not a single car in burger king's drive in. A caravan in Sunset's drive in. We were - no joke - stuck in that line for 40ish minutes. Not a single car gave in and switched to burger King. We all just waited patiently for our orders to come through.
Before new years it would have been opposite. There were always cars waiting outside of burger King while sunset was largely ignored. It's not that their food is bad. Actually, I have been pleasantly surprised after trying some of the items on their menu, but they were just seen as not a real fast-food brand before. McD and Burger King were the ones people trusted because they were the real deal.
But not anymore.
Switched from Ariel to Persil recently for the same reasons. Persil is a German brand marketed by Unilever in the UK. Unilever being a UK based company. It all helps.
Yeah, I switched to Salling. I also just like Salling in general because they make discount versions of almost everything. It's cheaper and the quality of the product is often either as good or better than the brand products. When it comes to detergent I like Salling better because it has a relatively neutral smell and my skin doesn't itch when I wear my clothes after washing.
It's not unlikely that Sunset's Boulevard (which I didn't realize was Danish) and Burger King are closely placed in other cities, but certainly sounds like it could be where I live. Is there a Roll 'n Eat, McD and Bilka nearby by chance?
It's in the area, yes, but tbf, I have seen Sunset and Burger King next to one another in at least one other city in Denmark so maybe it's just something they do? I dunno. Bilka and McD - in the city where we were waiting for our order - are a few km away, so not right next to it, but nearby. Relatively. Roll n Eat is not something I'm acquainted with, though. Doesn't mean it isn't there, I just don't know about it.
Good on ya, mate! This should terrify corporate America. We aren't "the only game in town," anymore. It's high time we learned some damn manners.
Us boycotting products in stores is more of a consumer protest done to signal our distaste towards our former allies. I don't think any of us are kidding ourselves into thinking that boycotting Burger King or M&M's is gonna make a change in the American economy. But it is a visible protest done to showcase how we feel and that is why we do it.
Where the individual can affect America is to delete themselves from American platforms and stop using American tech all together.
On a nation level, our leaders have to (and are in the process of) look into replacing American military equipment and American tech. Many of our systems are entirely based on Microsoft today and we must find alternatives and we must reject all American tech moving forward.
But that shit takes a very long time and it is very expensive and complicated.
It is similar to when Russia invaded Ukraine. Back then, there was also talk about boycotting Russian products in stores, but we all knew, that it was the gas we needed to boycot and that was and still is a long, slow and expensive process.
Russia and America feel confident in their current behavior because so many of us have become so dependent on their gas/tech that all Russia has to do to hurt us is turn off the gas and all America has to do is to shut down Microsoft and turn off our military gear with a press of a button.
When we have freed ourselves of both of them and have found ways to sustain ourselves, we will stand on more equal footing with them.
We made the big mistake of thinking that America and Russia had learned the same lesson from WW2 that we did. They didn't. Of course they didn't. It wasn't them who had bombs and guns raining down their backyards. It wasn't them who felt the loss of life up close, witnessed atrocities or had to carry the guilt of them for decades afterward.
WW2 to them is like a computer game. A fun little anecdote where they declare themselves the badasses - especially the Americans. They have absolutely no idea what WW2 was. It was just an action film to them there they get to cast themselves as heroes.
It's one of the reasons why I always preferred German and Eastern European War movies. They have always kept that shit real.
The article doesn't mention it, but there's a "Made in the EU" labeling phenomenon happening that makes me worried about Canadian and Mexican products getting thrown out with the American bathwater here. The point shouldn't be to fight nationalism with more nationalism. It should be to fight nationalism with good globalism.
Isn't it generally a good idea to buy as locally as possible to reduce unnecessary shipping emissions?
Nah, I wouldn’t worry about that. We obviously know the difference between the US, Canada and Mexico. And here in the Netherlands, you can be assured that we would choose Canadian if possible. We love Canada.
The ‘buy EU’ trend is solely focused on US goods. If the Canadians stick a maple leaf on their exports, it’ll sell for sure.
Isn't there also a "buy Canadian" movement in Canada?
I agree that the focus should be on boycotting the US but it's a nice opportunity for businesses anywhere to promote themselves over international competition and it's a much easier message for politicians to rationalize.
Canadian retailers are seeing a surge in domestic sales amid the ‘Buy Canadian’ movement -- (April 2025)
The “Buy Canadian” movement is already delivering promising results across the retail sector. Major retailers such as Loblaws Companies have reported a 10 per cent increase in sales of Canadian-made products. Sobey’s parent company Empire also noted a decline in sales of U.S.-sourced goods.
Importantly, the shift isn’t limited to big retailers or headline product categories. Smaller retailers and established brands are also seeing tangible benefits.
You may also be interested in https://buycanadianmart.ca/
Addition:
The ‘buy Canadian’ sentiment remains very strong, with a majority seeking Canadian products -- (May 2025)
There is
"Buy European" isn't nationalism. Europe is not a nation.
International nationalism?
Technically true but ideologically it's basically the same thing.
Also German nationalism existed before a German nation state, so that is not a necessary prerequisite.
No but I still think a lot of people will buy local first and European second before even entertaining the idea of buying some foreign muck (let alone something from the US). Unless it's the only source.
It isnt, but like it or not, the world is devolving into regional blocs. and Europe is a regional bloc, at least the parts that Russia isnt trying to take by shooting and ratf**king elections in.
I personally don't think this would effect Canada or any other democratic country. I maybe mistaken, of course, but this appears to be more related to defending specific values rather than working against a specific country.
I'm going out of my way not to buy from the US, it's annoying but we need to send a message
Unfortunately the movement is only just starting and most people I know still buy American almost everyday and orders stuff from Amazon. Hopefully though, the movement grows and gets enough traction.
That is what I love about Belgium/The Netherlands, we don't have an Amazon. So a local business called Bol.com took over.
It isn't exactly next day delivery all the time, but close. And pretty good deals as well.
Never ordered anything from Amazon, and never will.
Bol is great, super easy to create wishlists for several people because nobody likes to receive a random gift they never asked for
Amazon is the real cancer... Everyone in my friend bubble is ordering from them everyday!
They even call me stupid... "It's cheap, next day delivery, can stay at home, you get everything there etc..." and "I don't care about Trump, it still works".
I get it, but we will NEVER get rid of them, same for Whatsapp, Youtube etc...
I still buy from UK Amazon once a year because there are no retailers/sellers that ship English blurays to the EU with the same selection, but stopped buying from German Amazon about 4 years ago.
The only time I buy from Amazon (and WalMart) is at the bin store.
Never say never. Many companies have been considered as irreplaceable and went down the gutter a few years later.
Same/Next Day delivery is really Vicious and plays in our need for instant gratification.
I stopped buying books at Amazon, even they are cheaper. I want to keep Europe‘s economy running and that people have jobs in Europe, so already since last year - Trump was not the principal reason, the well being and work of us Europeans it was - I buy books at our local bookstore.
It's hard to avoid completely. Just clicking the link can be considered buying American. (Even worse that Wife and I subscribe to NYT. But WaPo got cancelled)
Europe should not only just aim at boycotting from the US, but also from China where many of these cheap products come from. It wouldn't make sense to replace Amazon by Temu.
China with all its problems and human rights violations is not threatening to invade and annex territory associated with an EU member state.
People unfortunately care very little about the shit countries do to other people and only get interested when them themselves are at threat. Another commentator pointed out how in Denmark his local Burger King was practically empty. I still see people go to Burger King quite a lot where i live. Meanwhile Tesla is getting quite some attention here in Germany because Musk openly embraced the fascist AfD, while in Norway Tesla sales are affected much less.
Unfortunately we are not yet united on boycotting the US, so we have to work more on it.
China with all its problems and human rights violations is not threatening to invade and annex territory associated with an EU member state.
Sure, but they militarily support a country that is actively invading a neighbouring country since 2014 and is threatening to invade both EU- and NATO-member states.
The difference is that China was and is run by the CCP for a long time. However the US just recently turned away from being somewhat democratic. So Europeans do not change their attitude on China that much, which in general is relativly negative anyway.
Even if it is produced elsewhere, if the brand is headquartered in the US it should be a boycott target.
A lot of it is oil and gas, so getting rid of that helps a lot. Not like other oil producers are much better. At least most of them.