For decades America’s soft power put the wind in the sails of its companies as they ventured abroad. When the Berlin Wall fell, Coca-Cola sent lorries emblazoned with its logo into East Berlin, handing out free drinks to the amassing crowds. Sales soon soared, as consumers in the former communist state chugged enthusiastically on the sugary icon of American capitalism.
Peddling Americana abroad, however, is getting trickier. Last month Carlsberg, a Danish brewer that bottles Coca-Cola in its home country, noted that consumers there were boycotting the fizzy drink, opting for local alternatives such as Jolly Cola instead. For this Coca-Cola can thank Donald Trump, who has exasperated Danes—and many other consumers around the world—with his talk of territorial expansion and his chaotic trade war. How worried should America Inc’s bosses be about their new image problem?
That Mr Trump has damaged America’s reputation abroad is clear to see. In a survey of more than 100,000 people across 100 countries carried out last month by Nira Data, a research firm, for the Alliance of Democracies, a Danish non-profit, the share of respondents with an unfavourable view of America exceeded those with a favourable opinion by five percentage points, a sharp deterioration from previous years, and enough to place America behind China in global esteem (see chart).
I can totally understand why the foreign consumer would eschew buying American products under the circumstances. It’s a small protest that nonetheless hurts the bottom line of the corporations that help Republicans attain power. It may be the most important thing anyone can do.
According to the article this is already weighing on American companies.
The president’s actions are already weighing on American companies’ sales abroad. The backlash has been strongest in Canada, whose citizens have railed against the suggestion that their country become America’s 51st state, and Denmark, thanks to Mr Trump’s threats to pinch Greenland. Last month 61% of Canadians told YouGov, a pollster, that they were boycotting American products. Earlier this year Ontario and Quebec, Canada’s two largest provinces, pulled American-made alcohol from the shelves of government-run liquor stores, hurting sales of products such as Jack Daniel’s. Kraft Heinz, an American food giant, has been reminding Canadians that much of what it sells in the country is made there from local ingredients. In Denmark, the country’s largest retailer, Sailing Group, has been labelling European-owned brands in its shops to make it easier for customers to avoid American products.
I don’t think Trump cares. He’s openly threatening Walmart, the biggest retailer in the world, here at home. When it comes to the tariffs his only interest is in proving that he was right all along. Which he wasn’t. So this is likely to go on for quite some time.