©Viktor Cvetkovic via Canva.com
March 14, 2025
Should Scandinavian Boycotts of US Brands Be Concerning?
Scandinavian consumers have begun boycotting U.S. goods and services with the causes ranging from President Donald Trump’s suspension of military support to Ukraine to threats over tariffs and annexation.
The Salling Group, Denmark’s largest grocery group and the operator of major supermarkets Bilka, Fotex, and Netto, is adding a black star to electronic price tags for European-made goods to allow consumers to choose them over products made in the U.S.
The move is being largely attributed to Trump’s discussion of his interest in acquiring Greenland, a self-governing island that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. In an address to Congress on March 4, Trump said, “We need it really for international, for world security, and I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”
In a LinkedIn post, Anders Hagh, CEO at Salling Group, said the retailer was only addressing inquiries from a number of customers who wanted to buy groceries from European brands. He added, “Our stores will continue to have brands on the shelves from all over the world, and it will always be up to customers to choose. The new label is only an additional service for customers who want to buy goods with European labels.”
Calls to boycott U.S. brands are also being loudly heard in Canada over Trump’s recent remarks about annexing Canada as well as moves to impose tariffs.
Meanwhile, several groups have emerged in recent days on social networks in Denmark and Sweden, according to Euronews, calling for boycotts of U.S. goods due to the U.S.’s suspension of military support for Ukraine and the tariff threats on Europe. The Danish group “Boykot varer fra USA” and Swedish group “Bojkotta varor fran USA” both have around 80,000 members.
The groups urge members to stop buying major U.S. products, including Tesla, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Nike, and Levi’s, as well as to not use services such as Netflix, Google, and Airbnb. Several posts offer alternative options to U.S. brands.
Jannike Kohinoor, creator of the Bojkotta varor fran USA group and a Swedish citizen, told Euronews, “When I can’t vote in the U.S. elections or demonstrate on the streets in the United States, I feel that I have to do something.”
In France, a Facebook group, Boycott USA: Buy French!, was created last week following the U.S. withdrawal of aid to Ukraine and has grown to over 22,000 members. According to RFI (Radio France Internationale), the site’s description reads, “Tired of financing American imperialism? Take action. Here, we are organizing to support the French and European economy by boycotting U.S. products.”
The move comes as consumers have been increasingly boycotting brands based on their country’s origin. The anti-U.S. sentiment from European consumers comes as a favorable Americana appeal has helped support global growth for many U.S. brands in recent decades.
A 2021 survey from Pitney Bowes of consumers in Canada, China, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Australia found nearly half (48%) of international online shoppers have an opinion about U.S. brands, although positive sentiments outweighed negative ones by a margin of two-to-one (33% to 15%, respectively).
Discussion Questions
What’s the likelihood that calls for boycotts of U.S. goods and services in Denmark, Sweden, and France spread to other regions?
What are the risks that tariff threats and other geopolitical conflicts will lead to the loss of Americana appeal?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Lisa Goller
B2B Content Strategist
Melissa Minkow
Director, Retail Strategy, CI&T
Gene Detroyer
Professor, International Business, Guizhou University of Finance & Economics and University of Sanya, China.
Recent Discussions
More Discussions
How Can Retailers Crack the Gen Z ‘Riddle’?
Gen Z is becoming an increasingly important consumer demographic, but an elusive one to map. How…Does Bath & Body Works’ Scented Holiday Campaign Pass the Sniff Test?
Bath & Body Works is kicking off a new campaign with scent being at the fore…Which Tech Will Solve In-Store Inventory Woes?
Three major tech lineups are looking to solve retail inventory problems. Which is most suited?
It’s easy to call for boycotts. It is easy to talk about them. And it’s easy to generate media coverage of them. However, it is much harder to make them impactful, especially in a sustained fashion. We will need to see if any of the latest round of boycotts has a tangible effect, or if they are more heat than light. Regardless, it is worrying that boycotts of US goods is even on the agenda. It would be much better if this wasn’t a ‘thing’.
Speaking as someone name “Sundstrom”, you bet they should be! 🙂 Seriously, tho, from a dollar-wise point of view, it’s a rather minor market. But it still matters, because it’s all completely unnecessary; even one dollar thrown away needlessly is concerning.
This whole trade war is absurd and some kind of mutual assured destruction. I have always believed we should bring some production back to the states, but not like this. There’s something called “process.”; clearly this is not understood,
It’s on us. We started it. It’s stupid. We also started the move to globalization under Ronald Reagan, and the logical end game was always an intertwined world. You don’t just untangle that with an executive order, really it’s all just stupid and is going to hurt a lot of people.
separately, as we approach a harvest time here in S Florida, I’m thinking of a song title “who is gonna pick the crops?” It’ll end up as a blog, but it has a ring to it.
Spending a few years of my business career in Scandinavia, it’s safe to characterize the five countries as having many small differences between each other on policy, trade, culture, even trivial things, but when it comes to broad scale matters, they tend to often stand united. And so it’s no surprise Swedish and Norwegian citizens and officials are taking a stand with Denmark on tariffs.
Given a long history of cooperation with Scandinavia, and that most citizens like Americans and American culture, this needs to be resolved sooner, rather than later. We have more to gain by keeping them in our fold as friends, partners. Ideally, a plan will soon be in place to negotiate richer agreements for both sides.
We are witnessing the first sparks and embers of a forest fire blowing in the winds. And we have a very recent, painful lesson about what happens if the winds keep blowing and the fires aren’t contained. It would be easier if these tariffs were about $$$ and fair trade, but they aren’t any more. They’re about politics and emotion. Lots of politics and lots of emotion. This is getting to be about MAD (mutually assured destruction). We are at the point of insulting countries, their governments and their citizens in deeply personal ways. The rationalization of short term pain for long term gain doesn’t work. Long term agony is more likely if cooler heads do not prevail pretty quickly. Crashing markets have a way of getting people’s attention, so I have a feeling long term profit motives will help inject some sanity back into the whole process. But why was this level of chaos ever even necessary?
Long term loss of Americana appeal…?!? Ya think…?!?
Can we spell pariah?
These are the consequences when a government expresses sole concern for their own economy and not the world economy. Very few big brands in the US have put pressure on Trump to be a business leader who champions the world economy. Perhaps there will be enough global boycotting to move US brands towards pressuring the current administration. The impacts of US boycotts have already been observed with Target.
The United States is king of the jungle, and when its all said and done, all tarrifs and boycotts will hurt the other guy more than the U.S. And in fact, the U.S. will benefit in the long term.
Besides, once the dust settles, individual consumers of the world will buy whatever they want or need, regardless of so-called boycotts. I have found that approximately nine out of ten boycotts are short-lived if they had any life at all. This is true in the United States, and in other western nations, too. Consumers value their own needs more than “causes.”
Regardless of so-called boycotts, the U.S. has a diverse and robust economy, even when it’s in a chill, especially compared with every other nation’s economy. The U.S. easily adapts to global changes.
Additionally, the U.S. has a wealth of natural resources and a strong technological sector that drive innovation and growth.
These factors enable the U.S. to remain resilient, even in the face of international trade challenges.
You miss the point that if US goods are not purchased by importers in other countries because some significant number of consumers are boycotting US exports, consumers in those countries will not just “buy whatever they want” because US goods may either not be there to consume, or may be there in smaller quantities.
You’re dreaming. We haven’t been king of the jungle for a long time. A really long time.
While I can’t predict the future, I believe that international brands based in the US might feel some pressure from countries who aren’t happy about the tariffs and changes coming from the US. If history is an indicator, foreign countries boycotting US products will be a short-term issue.
Boycotts are generally short-lived and have diminishing effects. Consumers, for the most part, gravitate back to their usual buying habits. The challenge for a company is when the consumers find alternative products that are as good, if not better, than the ones we’re used to buying, and continue to purchase the new ones. (Read Bud Light)
What’s happening in Europe and Canada is very different, this is an emotional play against the United States and for their own countries. Patriotism, if you will? And one with intense emotions. On the world stage this is a measure of permanent loss for America. Commerce is an essential element of soft power. Soft power is a crucial element of commerce. The United States has been losing soft power for decades. Most notably, it started with the invasion of Iraq, continued with the first Trump administration, and exploded within the last two months.
If there’s any question about the power of people’s feelings, one only has to look at Tesla sales in January and February in Europe. While the reaction to Tesla may reflect even further disgust in Elon Musk than the United States, it is very significant and not likely to recover as alternatives with other countries and within Europe develop for EVs.
Germany, the largest market for EVs in the E.U., saw a 30% rise in electric vehicle sales in January/February, as Tesla sales were down over 70%. Between January and February of 2025, Tesla recorded a 50% drop in sales in Portugal and 45% in France, while sales fell 42% in Sweden and 48% in Norway. Sales are falling outside of Europe as well. In Australia, Tesla sales dropped over 70%
In the meantime, several Chinese automakers are establishing or expanding their presence in Europe with plans to localize production, including factories in Hungary, Spain and Turkey. BYD and Chery are leading the way with encouragement by the European countries.
The EU, UK, Canada, Mexico, and China are negotiating aggressively to adjust their trade agreements to fit their needs. China has heavily emphasized restructuring the tariff situation with the EU. EU has free trade agreements with Canada and Mexico, and they are being enhanced as we speak. There seems to be a feeling in the United States that we’re a powerful country that can dictate whatever terms we want regarding our commerce. Today, the United States only represents about 15% of world commerce. There’s much ability for other countries to offer what the United States can provide and replace U.S. products.
Even if reversed to some degree, the results of the US’s tariff efforts will be a permanent loss for this country. It’ll result in a loss of manufacturing, jobs, and trade. No good will come out of this, mainly as other countries make the necessary adjustments in their supply chains that will lock out America.
I read an auto industry analyst report this morning that said, “Tesla as a brand is dead in Germany.” And while it’s still the top-selling EV in the United States, it’s also seeing significant declines. Elon has alienated his most loyal customer base. The President, who has shown scorn for laws, violated the Hatch Act last week and became a used car salesman, trying to promote Teslas to conservatives. Talk about whiplash!
Boycotts are challenging to maintain, but it’s not unheard of, especially in Europe. Will these boycotts initiate change? Bigger question. American companies are becoming toxic outside of the US. Inside, the polarization of our population has both sides picking their preferred retailers and companies. This polarization is terrible for businesses that are trying to drive growth against already formidable headwinds of high inflation and suddenly tanking retirement accounts. I suspect even a 1%-2% loss of revenue is not something they will welcome, especially when these issues are 100% political.
Boycotts by Scandinavian countries alone may not have a significant impact. That this even is topic of discussion is the real problem. That this could become a trend that expands to the rest of Europe has grave consequences. That the US is interested in Greenland and threatens to get the land one way or the other is a stupid expenditure of the administration’s time and focus and a cause for Denmark to be alarmed.
Boycotts against U.S. products could spread beyond these European countries and Canada as consumers choose activism. Consumers can’t control tariff policies but they can control where they spend their money.
Tariff threats erode trust and increase the risk of consumers seeking substitutes that aren’t made in the USA.
I’m exhausted by consumer outrage. While brands need to be sensitive to their consumers’ needs and their own culture, their only purpose is to provide consistent quality products and services to their shoppers at a profit. Brands are not government entities and while the world thinks they can sway geo-political positioning by not buying Nike or eating Heinz ketchup, it is not sustainable. For decades we have been living in an unfair trade world–right-setting free trade is being met with undue grinding and nashing of teeth. Wars need to end. Countries need to support one-another and people need to respect different opinions. Getting this all right will hurt in the short-term.
I don’t think I understood you. You understand that under Citizens United, corporations are people, right? With the same rights and privileges? That’s what isn’t sustainable.
Of COURSE it should be concerning. What do we make that’s unique? It’s like saying, “only Amazon sells what I want.” That’s not true but generally we’re too lazy to look elsewhere. I still buy from them, but I buy less, unless I’m in a big hurry. Do I think the world will stop turning if they stop buying bourbon? C’mon, man.
Visited Copenhagen for a week last summer & shopped most every day at a Netto. This is a comically easy move as there was essentially zero US-manufactured product on their shelves to begin with & the few familiar brands were all licenses out to European manufacturers like Nestle (excepting Coca-Cola of course.)
There’s much in the trans-Atlantic trade relationship that should be sorted out – the EU’s forest product sourcing regulations which came into effect this year have the result of outright banning *anything* made of paper from North America, whether cardboard packaging, books and magazines, stickers, corrugated shipping cases, or product instructions – despite the EU acknowledging that the US and Canada aren’t engaged in cutting down old-growth forests, which was what the law says it works against. But we don’t have a functional Commerce Department anymore, much less anyone who actually knows how to negotiate.