Boycotts against US brands surge across Europe and Canada as anger over American policies intensifies
The renowned German classical violinist Christian Tetzlaff did not hold back when explaining why he and his quartet decided to cancel their summer tour in the US.
“There seems to be a quietness or denial about what’s going on,” Tetzlaff said, expressing his distress over the authoritarian policies of Donald Trump and the response of US elites to the country’s worsening democratic crisis.
“I feel utter anger. I cannot go on with this feeling inside. I cannot just go and play a tour of beautiful concerts.”
Tetzlaff is far from alone in his unease. A growing international boycott against the US is gaining traction, extending from Scandinavia to Canada, the UK, and beyond, as consumers increasingly reject American goods.
The most high-profile example so far has been the drop in European demand for Tesla vehicles, a direct response to Elon Musk’s prominent role in Trump’s administration. As the head of the newly created “Department of Government Efficiency,” Musk has found himself at the center of controversy. The backlash has severely impacted Tesla’s stock, erasing roughly 15% of its value on Monday alone.
While Tesla’s sales decline in Europe is well-documented, similar consumer boycotts have emerged in Canada, where tariffs and Trump’s remarks suggesting Canada should become America’s 51st state have fueled resentment. Protesters have taken to hockey games to boo the US national anthem, while apps like “Buy Beaver,” “Maple Scan,” and “Is This Canadian?” help shoppers identify and avoid American products, from liquor to pizza toppings.
Figures released this week show that cross-border road trips by Canadians—who make up the bulk of US-bound travelers—have dropped 23% since February 2024, according to Statistics Canada.
Although Canada and Mexico have borne the brunt of Trump’s trade policies, boycotts are now visible far beyond these regions.
In Sweden, a Facebook group promoting a boycott of American goods has drawn over 70,000 members—ironically, even Facebook itself is among the targeted companies. “I’ll replace as many American goods as I can, and if enough people do it, it will impact the stores,” one member posted.
In Denmark, where Trump’s suggestion of bringing Greenland under US control sparked outrage, the nation’s largest grocery retailer, the Salling Group, announced it would tag European products with a black star, making it easier for shoppers to opt for non-US brands.
“We are making it easier to shop for European brands,” CEO Anders Hagh shared on LinkedIn, while confirming the company would still stock American goods.
Beyond consumer habits, businesses are severing ties with the US. Haltbakk, Norway’s largest privately owned fuel supplier, recently declared it would no longer provide fuel to US Navy ships.
Following the heated White House meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Trump last month, the company posted on Facebook: “We have today been witnesses to the biggest shit show ever presented ‘live on TV’ by the current American president and his vice-president.
“Huge credit to the president of Ukraine for keeping calm even though USA put on a backstabbing TV show. It made us sick.
“As a result, we have decided to [immediately] STOP as fuel provider to American forces in Norway and their ships calling Norwegian ports … We encourage all Norwegians and Europeans to follow our example.”
While consumer boycotts have historically targeted regimes like apartheid South Africa and Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, the speed with which the second Trump administration has become a focus of economic resistance is remarkable.
Trump has acknowledged the growing backlash, particularly against Tesla, for the first time this week.
On social media, he wrote: “To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is putting it ‘on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they so often do, are trying to illegally and collusively [sic] boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers and Elon’s baby.”
Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, wrote for the Centre for European Policy Analysis this week: “Nobody – nobody – would have thought that western businesses or consumers would use such tools against America.
“The United States is, after all, the leader of the free world. Or was: its vote with Russia, against Ukraine, at the United Nations last month, combined with Trump’s and Vance’s verbal attack on Zelenskyy, along with Trump’s denunciation of Zelenskyy as a dictator and a refusal to use similar language about the Russian despot, suggests to many that America is no longer an instinctive member of what we term the west.”
For some, this backlash was inevitable.
When Trump first proposed sweeping tariffs earlier this year, Takeshi Niinami, CEO of Japanese brewing and distilling giant Suntory Holdings, which owns several major US brands, warned that international consumers would likely reject American products in response to a trade war.
“We laid out the strategic and budget plan for 2025 expecting that American products, including American whiskey, will be less accepted by those countries outside of the US because of first, tariffs and, second, emotion,” Niinami told the Financial Times.
And the movement is likely to expand. Zoe Gardner, an organizer with the Stop Trump Coalition in the UK, says interest in the boycott is growing rapidly.
“A lot of what we are seeing is coming about organically, people putting stuff on TikTok. People are so furious, and this is about taking back power. Already across Europe, Tesla sales are plummeting because Musk embodies so much of what’s wrong with the Trump administration—from its culture of blatant racism to its economic policies.”
Sources -
https://www.ft.com/content/058b8e6c-7cd0-49be-9bd1-9a4388cbf971
https://stoptrump.org.uk/
