A number of companies, including many of the country’s most quintessentially American brands, have warned that growing anti-Americanism as a result of President Donald Trump‘s tariffs could end up hurting their success overseas.
Experts believe that the trend, if it translates into a broad-based shift in consumer behavior, could prove to be a significant headwind for the companies while taking a significant toll on the broader U.S. economy.
Why It Matters
Anti-Americanism has been on the rise globally, driven largely by the trade policies of the current administration that impacted countries’ views as a critical threat to their exports and international trade more generally.
Calls to boycott the American economy have gained traction in Canada since early this year—also sparked by Trump’s “51st state” remarks—and have already impacted tourism to the U.S. and the sale of American products. These have recently spread to India as a result of the 50 percent duties placed on its goods, with lawmakers and activists urging less dependence on American multinationals and a greater emphasis on economic self-sufficiency.
What To Know
According to business intelligence firm Morning Consult, Trump’s tariff announcements in early April coincided with a “staggering upswing” in global anti-American sentiment, which it said had already resulted in “steep drops in purchasing consideration” for some U.S. companies overseas, “suggesting that worsening views of America are rapidly taking a toll on some brands’ health.”
In July, ahead of the reimposition of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs, it said that “anti-Americanism” could pose a significant risk to brands given the combination of potential price impacts and “sharply negative sentiment toward the United States” on consumer shopping habits.
A number of companies have noted this trend. David Gibbs, CEO of KFC and Taco Bell parent Yum Brands, told analysts in late April that the company was closely monitoring the issue and its impact on consumer behavior, but added that there had not been an observable impact on its sales.
However, California-based Beyond Meat, known for its plant-based meat substitutes, said in March that it had concerns over a shift in global consumer behavior as a result of growing opposition to the U.S. In an annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company listed this as one of the “risk factors” it would be monitoring going forward.
“There is no assurance that we would be able to pass on any cost increases, in full or at all, to our customers, and/or we could lose customers in countries such as Canada due to anti-American sentiment, any of which could materially affect our revenue, gross margin and results of operations,” the filing read.
In May, McDonald’s similarly noted an increase in “anti-American sentiment” but said that there had been no change in global perceptions of the company’s brand or its sales as a result.
“What we have seen in our survey work is that there has been an increase in people in various markets saying that they are going to be cutting back their purchase of American brands,” CEO Chris Kempczinski said. “And we’ve seen an uptick in anti-American sentiment—call it 8- to 10-point increase in anti-American sentiment—most pronounced in Northern Europe and Canada.”
This week, Kempczinski again warned that global consumers appear to be increasingly avoiding American brands as a result of negative perceptions of the country.
“The aura around America has dimmed a bit,” he told CNBC, adding that the company would be leaning more into its local appeal—”our locality”—rather than its “Americanness.”
Brown-Forman, the parent company of Jack Daniel’s, recently reported a 62 percent year-over-year decline in Canadian sales in its first quarter. During a subsequent earnings call, executives blamed it on the trade dispute between Canada and the U.S., as well as the ongoing moratorium on American spirit sales across several Canadian provinces.
In a regulatory filing last week, denim brand Levi’s listed “rising anti-Americanism as a consequence of the Trump tariffs and governmental policies” among the risks it was facing this year. The company added that this could result in consumers “possibly shifting away from U.S. products and brands.”
Jill Klein, a professor of marketing at Melbourne Business School, told Newsweek that her research into “international animosity” and its effects on consumer behavior suggests that the growing tide of anti-American sentiment is “likely to have a substantial impact on U.S. companies.”
Usha Haley, W. Frank Barton distinguished chair in international business at Wichita State University, said that the risk was highest in “identity categories.”
“Brands that signal Americanness such as jeans, whiskey and tech are most exposed to substitution toward local and European options when anti-U.S. sentiment spikes,” she said.
What People Are Saying
Alan Bradshaw, professor of marketing at Royal Holloway, University of London, told Newsweek: “Perhaps one thing that we can expect is that those brands who have heavily leveraged their American identity—think Hershey’s, Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Hummer, Budweiser, Nike—are now particularly exposed and we may start to see these brands move towards a different type of imagery. However, these are huge brands with well established ‘Customer Based Brand Equity.’ This means that they have invested huge amounts in building brand iconicity based on Americana over the decades and changing course would be very costly and not necessarily a good idea.”
Usha Haley of Wichita State University told Newsweek: “Consumers’ backlash tends to harden into non-market barriers—such as retaliatory tariffs, local-content rules, public-procurement preferences, labeling, standards friction, data-localization and targeted inspections.
“Heavily regulated, tariff-sensitive products are especially vulnerable when sentiment and policy move together.”
Steve H. Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University and former senior economist on President Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers, told Newsweek: “It is very hard to make a sweeping statement about the bottom-line impact of rising anti-Americanism on American brands. What we do know is that for some specific American brands, the impact will be nontrivial.”
Takeshi Niinami, chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings, whose brands include Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark, told Bloomberg TV in April that the current tariff situation had reduced countries’ “appetite” to invest in the U.S.
“If this continues, I don’t think [the U.S. economy will be] very attractive. So we have to find other places, other countries like India, Indonesia. So we have to have a bigger portfolio of investment.”
What Happens Next
This week, a federal appeals court ruled that the majority of Trump’s tariffs were illegally imposed, and an unjustified use of presidential emergency powers. The ruling does not take effect until October 14, and the administration has filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision.
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