Famous German classic violinist Christian Tetzraff was dull to explain why he and his quartet cancelled a summer tour in the US.
“It seems there’s a quiet and denial about what’s going on,” Tetzraff said, explaining his fears in Donald Trump’s authoritarian debate and the reaction of the US elite to the country’s growing democratic crisis.
“I feel total anger. I can’t continue this feeling inside. I can’t go on a tour of a beautiful concert.”
Tetzlaff doesn’t just act on his anxiety. The growing international move to boycott the US is spreading from Scandinavia to Canada and the UK as consumers oppose US products.
Most notably so far was the rejection by European car buyers of Teslas, produced by Elon Musk, a prominent figure in the Trump administration, as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, a special group created by Trump that helped lead Tesla’s stock price urgently. Approximately 15% of its value was wiped out on Monday alone.
The decline in Tesla sales in Europe is well documented and although boycotts of Canadian consumers have responded to trade tariffs and Trump’s demands that Canada’s US 51st state, last week we saw daily reports of cultural and other forms of boycotts and investment.
In Canada, the American anthem was booed during a hockey match with a US team, so many apps have appeared under names like “Buy Beaver”, “Maple Scan”, and “Is Canadian”, where shoppers scan QR barcodes and reject our produce from alcohol to pizza tops.
Figures released this week suggest that the number of Canadians, which typically represent the majority of Canadians visiting, has fallen 23% compared to February 2024, according to Statistics Canada.
Canada and Mexico are at the forefront of Trump’s trade war, but boycotting is seen well beyond countries where the economy is targeted.
In Sweden, around 40,000 users have joined the Facebook group and are seeking a boycott of US companies (ironically including Facebook itself) with alternatives to US consumer products.
“I exchange as many American products as possible. If many people do that, it clearly affects the supply of stores,” wrote one member of the group.
In Denmark, if Trump’s threat to bring Greenland’s autonomous territory to US control, Salling Group, the largest grocery company, says it will tag European-made products with black stars to allow consumers to choose from them over US-made products.
“We make shopping easier for European brands,” its CEO Anders Hag wrote on LinkedIn, but said the company still stocks US products.
Perhaps more prominent is the decision that companies will cut ties with the US. Privately owned Haltbakk, Norway’s largest oil-band fueling operation, recently announced a boycott to occasionally supply US naval vessels with fuel.
Last month, the company posted on Facebook about a fiery White House meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Trump.
“A great achievement for the Ukrainian president to restrain himself and keeping him calm despite the US holding backstab television shows. It made us sick.
“As a result, we decided to stop (quickly) as a fuel provider for the Norwegian American troops and ships calling Norwegian ports. We encourage all Norwegians and Europeans to follow our example.”
Boycotts were a familiar tactic in the past targeting the occupation of Palestinian territory in apartheid South Africa and Israel, but the speed at which the second Trump administration has become targeted both consumer anger and ethically hearted businesses.
This week’s Trump commented for the first time on the issue, lamenting the impact of Tesla’s customer boycott and demonstrations.
He wrote on social media: “To Republicans, conservatives and all the great Americans, Elon Musk has “on the line” to help our country and he’s doing a great job! “However, radical left madmen are trying to illegally and republically (sic) the world’s great car maker and one of Elon’s babies, Tesla boycott Tesla, as they often do. ”
Elizabeth Brow, a senior fellow at Atlantic Council, wrote this for the European Centre for the European Policy Analysis this week:
“The United States is, after all, a leader in the free world. Or, last month’s vote against Russia on Ukraine, Trump and Vance’s verbal attacks on Zelensky, Trump’s attacks and Zelensky’s accusation of Zelensky as a dictator, and his refusal to use similar language of Russian tyranny suggests that America is not an instinctive member of what is heading west.
For some, the backlash was completely predictable.
When Trump threatened to charge cleaning fees for the first time this year, Take Ninami, chief executive of Suntory Holdings, a Japanese multinational brewing and distillation group that owns several major US brands, said there is a high chance that international consumers will shun American brands in the events of the trade war.
“We have a strategic and budget plan for 2025 and hope that American products, including American whiskey, will not be much accepted in countries other than the US due to their primary, tariffs and, secondly, sentiment,” Ninami said.
And that could expand even further. Zoe Gardner, organizer of the UK’s Trump Union halt, believes interest in the issue is rapidly increasing.
“A lot of what we see is organically, people are putting things in Tiktok. People are so furious, this is to regain power. Already across Europe, we’re seeing Tesla sell cliffs as Musk encapsulates a lot of the issues of the Trump administration, both a scary and economic culture.”
