Is Trump’s trade war hurting American brands abroad?

President Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs has generated some negative feeling abroad, with some international consumers proposing boycotting American products.

But how do global consumers’ view American brands since Trump’s second term began in January 2025? This article uses three key YouGov BrandIndex metrics – Impression, Value and Consideration – to find out.

We compare how the combined average scores for five well-known American brands – Apple, Ford, McDonald’s, Nike, Visa – performed among consumers in four US trading partners – the UK, Canada, France, and Mexico between January and May. While scores are influenced by many factors, the data covers the period following the announcement of Trump’s tariffs.

To date there is not compelling evidence of long-lasting effects on brand health abroad. Overall, while our analysis shows some signs that American brands declined on some metrics in some markets during the first few months of Trump’s second term, they have subsequently mostly rebounded.

Impression: cooling feelings in key markets

BrandIndex’s net Impression score indicates whether consumers feel generally positive or negative toward a brand. Feelings towards the American brands fell in several markets but declined most sharply in Canada.

On the day he was sworn in, Trump announced 25% tariffs on goods coming from Canada and Mexico which would go into effect on February 1. He also spoke of making Canada into America’s “51st state,” riling Canadians, many of whom spoke of boycotting American goods.

The Impression score for the US brands fell from 28.0 at the beginning of Trump’s term to a low of 25.7 on April 11, a reduction of 8%. However, by May 26 scores had returned to inauguration levels (28.0).

Mexico, also hit early with tariffs, follows a similar pattern. Impression fell from 28.1 on January 20 to 25.9 on March 5 – a decline of 8% – before recovering to previous levels by May. This change in direction followed the March 6 decision to pause tariffs on Mexico and Canada (although Impression in Canada continued to decline into April).

The UK shows a very small and gradual fall from 32.4 to 31.9. In France, where Impression of US brands was lowest to start with, sentiment remained fairly stable around 22.5.

Value: perceptions erode in UK and Mexico

As tariffs may affect prices of consumer goods, has trade uncertainty affected the value perceptions of the American brands? Value is a net score reflecting whether consumers believe a brand offers good value for money.

Over the course of the study period, value perceptions of US brands in the UK fell by 1.5 points from 17.7 to 16.2 while in Mexico, Value dropped by almost two points – from 15.4 to 13.6.

Will international consumers still Consider buying American?

The BrandIndex Consideration score gauges how many consumers would consider buying from a brand soon. Following the talk of tariffs, Consideration for US brands in the UK has fallen steadily, declining by two points – from a high of 34.2% to a low of 32.2%.

However, in the other markets, while Consideration fluctuated it ended up slightly higher by the end of May than when Trump took office.

How international consumers will respond to American brands is not yet clear

While tough trade talk may have soured the feelings of some international consumers towards US brands, YouGov BrandIndex data shows little evidence that this change has been long-lasting. In Mexico and Canada, America’s closest neighbours, consumer sentiment seems to have mostly recovered from any decline. While British consumers opinion on US brands has declined, the change is still relatively small.

However, in markets deeply intertwined with US trade even minor policy shifts can reverberate through to brand perception. As a daily brand tracking tool, BrandIndex will be at the leading edge of picking up on these shifts in sentiment.

Methodology: Data is sourced from YouGov BrandIndex, which tracks brand perception metrics daily. Data covers five US brands (Apple, Ford, McDonald’s, Nike, Visa) across the US, UK, France, Canada, and Mexico from January 20 to May 26, 2025. Figures are based on an 8-week moving average.

Metrics are based on the following questions:

• Impression: "Which of the following brands do you have a generally positive or negative feeling about?"
• Value: "Which of the following brands do you think represents good or poor value for money?"
• Consideration: "When you are in the market next to make a purchase, which brands would you consider?"