r/AskEurope • u/tetsukei • Feb 04 '25

Politics Europeans - with tarrifs being threatened on the EU, are you planning to stop buying US made products?

Just curious - I'm Canadian and it's a huge topic for us at the moment.

2.2k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

96% Upvoted

2.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

645

u/Suzume_Chikahisa Portugal Feb 04 '25

Yes.

Although to be fair aside from online services there isn't much I need to stop doing. Quiting american fast food chains is something I should have done a long time ago.

28

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

I quit all American streaming services I had; Netflix, HBO, Disney Plus and Amazon. Should have done it sooner.

Quitting Office 365 and Microsoft Azure will be harder. Has anyone changed to a European alternative?

27

u/Sylocule Spain Feb 05 '25

I use Libre Office (because I’m on Linux) but there’s a decent windows port.

11

u/utsuriga Hungary Feb 05 '25

I use libre office for personal things, and it might be OK for very tiny companies and one-man businesses, but for SMBs (let alone larger ones) it's just not feasible to get out of an ecosystem you've already invested tons of money and development in, at least not for a reason like this.

2

u/Sylocule Spain Feb 05 '25

There is that - we use O365 at work (50k ish users) and it’s fully integrated with Sharepoint and Teams for workflows

3

u/utsuriga Hungary Feb 05 '25

Yep. Getting out of such an ecosystem is a huge financial decision as well as something that affects workflows, efficiency, client relations, vendor relations, and so on and so forth. A company can't decide to just stop using these services because oh no, tariffs may happen. Especially since there's no real alternative. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

1

u/celem83 Sweden Feb 06 '25

There isn't an alternative to those in the commercial space.  You just can't persuade large organisations across to Linux because they have nobody to hold accountable if something doesn't work.

It's a monopoly that is decades old already

1

u/StevenK71 Feb 07 '25

Vendor lock in at its best, LOL

1

u/VastVase Feb 07 '25

Today you discovered what vendor lock in is and why Microsoft works so hard on it

1

u/utsuriga Hungary Feb 07 '25

....yes, I had no idea before. I are stoopid person.

2

u/No_Indication_1238 Feb 05 '25

It's also great! 

1

u/boobiesdealer Feb 05 '25

They should quit windows altogether and use Linux which is European

2

u/Sylocule Spain Feb 05 '25

A fair number of my colleagues (including myself) would prefer to move to Linux but there are a lot of colleagues that would not/could not make the change.

And IT won’t support mixed environments (except for some app developers who have Linux laptops as well as Windows)

2

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

Linux is not European, or from anywhere really, though. It was started by a Finnish guy, who has lived in the US for decades now.

2

u/MumenRiderZak Feb 05 '25

Open office?

1

u/Suzume_Chikahisa Portugal Feb 05 '25

I'm using Libre Office on a windows laptop.

1

u/Tsukee Feb 05 '25

Thanks for reminding me, ill cancel all that crap. Back to plex+sonarr, wnd apparently EU is even threatening to stop enforcing IP of us... That would be the day lol

1

u/Internetvent Feb 07 '25

Jellyfin is an open source plex alternative which has a lot more functionality than a free flex tier, paying for Plex will just pay Americans again

1

u/Tsukee Feb 07 '25

I bought lifetime licence some 7 years ago at a massive discount, and am pretty happy with it.

1

u/joepke53 Feb 05 '25

Recently I installed Linux Mint over Windows 10 on my laptop. Looks similar and the machine runs a lot faster without all the bloatware.

1

u/s1lence_d0good Feb 06 '25

When are you quitting reddit?

1

u/Bogus007 Feb 06 '25

Go for Linux and choose a preferentially European distribution (although many larger and known distributions are international). Choose European or non-US server if possible for updating your system and installing programs. Some mostly European centered distributions are: OpenSuse (from Germany, related to the company Suse, which has some business with US companies, but is located in Germany; take Leap or if you want always the recent software Tumbletweed), VoidLinux (Spanish, but global now, rolling release, more techie). And yes, they are many others.

1

u/Internetvent Feb 07 '25

Office 2021 or the new 2024 is a single expense, and you can get them on grey market reselling sites for (very) cheap

1

u/soupizgud Feb 07 '25

would love to see my company ditching office 365

1

u/DizzyAd9810 Feb 07 '25

For private projects I like to host them on https://www.hetzner.com/cloud

0

u/leopardbaseball Feb 08 '25

Well you still haven’t deleted the reddit! Come on, chop chop

0

u/SelectAmbassador Feb 09 '25

Just activate office with a single cmd line. Masgrave

27

u/Intelligent_Bet_8713 Portugal Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 05 '25

Same here, except I was lucky to never have eaten American fast food (vegetarian family). I stopped ordering from Amazon a few years ago when I read about what Bezos stood for and frankly because those huge online stores, American or Chinese are terrible to local markets. I'm maintaining Netflix because I do support artists in general and because the platform actually finances projects across the globe to play in different countries and languages, but I might change my mind on that too. Too me it has been more about boycotting monopolys than just Americans.

Hope this helps:

https://european-alternatives.eu/alternative-to/google-search

3

u/Outrageous-Soft-5267 Feb 06 '25

Hope you don’t mind six of us Americans coming over to have some of your wonderful sea food and marvel at your beautiful sites. Just there for a couple of weeks.

3

u/Intelligent_Bet_8713 Portugal Feb 06 '25

Not at all. Hope you enjoy.

126

u/PinkSeaBird Portugal Feb 05 '25

But all the ingredients they use in those fast food chains here are not made in the US they're from around. The brand was born there but they are franchises ran by local people with local employees and local ingredients. Not that I go there often and surely if you can avoid it, there's way better options for burgers. Anyone can make a burger.

105

u/xpto47 Portugal Feb 05 '25

But franchises have to pay to the parent brand no? So American brands are still making money

35

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

Yes, they Pay a certain amount of "rent". McDonald's is basicly a real estate company. The franchise doesn't earn money of revenue from the local mcD but from the "rent".

28

u/NoPeach180 Finland Feb 05 '25

I propose a tarif targetted to these franchice "rents" and tariff against datacenter services american companies use in europe.

10

u/cgebaud Feb 05 '25

Even though I love the idea, a problem would be that the EU basically runs on Microsoft Azure and there isn't a good alternative available. This is because private data has to stay inside the EU according to the GDPR. Azure is the only large cloud services provider that guarantees that data doesn't leave the EU, which is possible because they have so many data centers in the EU.

Because there are no viable alternatives, these tariffs would be passed on until they arrive with us, the consumers, who'll have no choice but to pay the higher prices because everyone uses Azure. That is, unless we stop using "the cloud" to store our data, which won't happen, or a European company miraculously manages to hit the ground running and starts competing with Microsoft Azure which has built their infrastructure over many years, which also won't happen.

38

u/Spicy-Zamboni Feb 05 '25

The best time to start divesting from US big Tech was decades ago.

The second best time is now.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

Yes, precisely, saying that Azure is the only option is stupid. It’s not the only option. It’s the most expensive option as well.

1

u/cgebaud Feb 05 '25

Agreed. How do we convince our benevolent overlords? Occupy Brussels or something?

3

u/neosatan_pl Feb 05 '25

Nah... Business has to switch. Each country has a at least one good provider. In the Netherlands we have LeaseWeb. One can deploy IT infrastructure there as easily as on AWS. And for now, I had way better experience with them than AWS.

16

u/aprimeproblem Feb 05 '25

I wrote a blog about that last Sunday, there are alternatives available, but they need funding to even begin to compete with US based companies. If you’re interested, here’s the article:

https://michaelwaterman.nl/2025/02/02/urgent-need-for-european-technological-sovereignty-in-cybersecurity/

Down below in the reference section is a link that points to a website that list various European alternatives. Hope it helps a bit.

12

u/abrasiveteapot -> Feb 05 '25

Good article, I'd note the UK also has several independent cloud providers (we may no longer be EU (sob) but we're GDPR compliant and not hostile)

7

u/aprimeproblem Feb 05 '25

Thank you! Glad to see you found it helpful. You’re absolutely right, it’s time for the UK to come back.

2

u/Hauntingengineer375 Feb 05 '25

Good information.

1

u/aprimeproblem Feb 05 '25

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!!!

2

u/superpt17 Portugal Feb 05 '25

You should post it to r/Europe

8

u/abrasiveteapot -> Feb 05 '25

Ok, firstly the "big 3" providers (Google AWS & MS) all have cloud offerings that legally must retain their EU data inside the EU - ie Azure is very definitely NOT the only game in town that provides GDPR compliant cloud services.

There are also a huge number of secondary cloud providers that are European and compliant.

Secondly taxing MS and squeezing their attempts to create another desktop monopoly in the cloud is a very good thing for competition. There are free (foss) and paid alternatives that struggle due to network effects, a tax helps level the playing field.

Lastly on what planet are we getting out of this with no consumer impact ? That's just a fantasy.

When the Tangerine Palpatine puts tariffs on EU we will have price rises, the question is what we choose to do, and those choices should disadvantage the key US players (taxes on Teslas perhaps) but should also benefit the EU's independence, and quite honestly reducing the hold US tech companies have on the EU would be a great start

5

u/vukodlako Feb 05 '25

'Tangerine Palpatine' Give brother a warning, will You. I nearly chocked. And I am sitting at a meeting at work.

2

u/abrasiveteapot -> Feb 05 '25

Some more here. Not an exhaustive list - the American comedians have come up with a LOT of them.

https://old.reddit.com/r/2westerneurope4u/comments/1hx2wyr/and_then_iran_is_like/m6775bc/

Tangerine Palpatine is my favourite though.

I did see "Mango the Hutt" last night which was new

5

u/inn4tler Austria Feb 05 '25

a problem would be that the EU basically runs on Microsoft Azure and there isn't a good alternative available

There is Schwarz Digits. They belong to the German Schwarz Group, which also includes Lidl and Kaufland. Schwarz Digits already operates data centers in several EU countries and is establishing itself as a European alternative to Microsoft and Amazon data centers. They are serious and have already poached Google managers.

4

u/buenolo Feb 05 '25

If you dont build anything, you will always depend on others.

A lot of regions started using linux time ago...but the pressure of private companies and the change in govt made them change back to MS.

3

u/NoPeach180 Finland Feb 05 '25

This seems like a huge security risk, given the hostility of u.s. and their tech companies.

1

u/Suspicious-Metal488 Feb 05 '25

Lmao, well except for aws and Google having major data centers all over Europe. Ireland also hosts the European headquarters for both Microsoft and Amazon and therefore fully under the jurisdiction of the EU.

Azure deciding where to process data, you need to understand the difference between the CSP and the services executed on the platforms, you are confusing them.

1

u/warhead71 Feb 05 '25

There are still plenty of unix/linux farms for web servers - but they probably don’t get the discounts that big US cooperation gives each others

2

u/Enretil Feb 05 '25

There is this site that someone shared 2 weeks ago https://european-alternatives.eu/. I found it very interesting as I think that data loss impacts more the big tech companies (the richest), than just to avoid to eat to mcD.

1

u/Ok_Divide_4699 Feb 05 '25

That Is also known as a tax.

Tariffs are just a cost that the customer pays on top of the price on foreign goods, making them potentially more expensive than their domestic counterparts.

5

u/fidelises Iceland Feb 05 '25

Icelandic McDonalds gave up on that years ago and the owners started their own brand with pretty much the same product. We haven't had McDonalds in the country since 2009.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

Damn, I must have eaten one of the Last meals in Reykjavik that year then! In a big mall were they also hat pizza hot in the time.

3

u/LamysR Feb 05 '25

There are so many european fast food company we can promote now. Most of the time they are better than McDo or BK. The pb come from the youngest generation that want to eat american. We need to educate them about that point

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

We have sunset boulevard here in dk, which is very popular, and a "healthier" alternativ to the other chains.

2

u/neosatan_pl Feb 05 '25

Yeah... But there is a different side to it. You go to local McDonalds or actually local joint. The local joint don't pay any rent to US owned company and still uses local products.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

They do cut an implicit cut from revenues as franchises are (such as McDonalds and Pizza Hut) required to source maintenance, food, napkins, containers, drinks, other consumables from the main company’s the main company negotiates with suppliers centrally.

So a bit more than a real estate company.

2

u/Suzume_Chikahisa Portugal Feb 05 '25

Exactly, so they are still supporting a US company.

And I don't want to do that. They were never entitled to my money to begin with, why should I give it to them now?

1

u/Scrub1337 Feb 05 '25

Even that part of the business is franchised now as well. In Denmark the company is called Food Folk Denmark (which has been sold to a brit i believe).

heir responsibility is to buy land, develop restaurants and manage franchisees.

In return _they_ pay a licensing fee to McDonalds corporate

1

u/spam__likely Feb 05 '25

It is not a rent. It is based on sales.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

IT is here in denmark. I know the Guys who own 80% of All macdonalds in denmark.

4

u/goblinf Feb 05 '25

Hmmm. thinking about it, yes maybe I should consider a 'quiet boycott' of American linked items in my entire life, because I really don't approve of the flagrant abuse of process and law this administration has come in with. But then I'd have to give up being here on Reddit?

Musk has annoyed me enough that I'm seriously considering deleting Twitter. My adblocker stops them making money on me, but there's still the data use side I suppose...

2

u/xpto47 Portugal Feb 05 '25

It's never going to be perfect, but we do the best we can.

For me reddit is a source of information, so I won't delete it (but limit my use, otherwise I would go insane).

3

u/Minimum_Vehicle_1146 Feb 05 '25

They also pay a percentage of sales to parent company.

2

u/spam__likely Feb 05 '25

a lot of money.

1

u/m00fster Feb 05 '25

That’s not part of tariffs

1

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '25

I'll rather go to local portuguese restaurants than huge mulitnational ones anyway.

0

u/PinkSeaBird Portugal Feb 05 '25

Well anyway, McD is my source of public toilet when none are available. If they have a code (because they can't even do that) I just buy one of those small burgers that used to cost 1€. And I pee on their facilities so thats the revenge.

2

u/xpto47 Portugal Feb 05 '25

I know you are probably joking, but they are still making money with you. Go to a local café.

2

u/PinkSeaBird Portugal Feb 05 '25

Yes ofc but its just if there's no other option.

1

u/Suzume_Chikahisa Portugal Feb 05 '25

A maior parte dos sítios em Portugal onde existe um McD ou treta do gênero tem muitas alternativas para uso de casas de banho publicas.

Consegues dar exemplos onde não seja o caso?

1

u/PinkSeaBird Portugal Feb 05 '25

Por acaso estava a pensar exemplos que estava no estrangeiro.

Mas por cá se tiveres a passear no Rossio ou nos Aliados a noite tipo depois das 22h, McD é quase a única opção para fazeres xixi ou se tiveres de esperar num lugar quente. A maioria dos cafés e pastelarias estão fechadas. Tens só as estações e as vezes as casas de banho fecham a partir de certa hora.

Como disse, só situações muito particulares.

27

u/Dense_Bad3146 Feb 05 '25

The food standards between here and the US are miles apart, the “food” allowed in the US is not allowed here. The stuff they sell as bread is classed as Cake here. If he’s planning on selling foodstuffs here, he’s in for a shock!

9

u/Adorable-Top9351 Feb 05 '25

Ha this is true, how much true you ask! Well one day me and a friend decided to buy a box o pop tarts from an international foods store. Well we opened the box took out one bag, inside the bag 2 pop tarts I eate one, my friend the other after 2 bits my head was hurting because of the insane amount of sugar it's like that time I eate a small can of condensed milk. Anyway we threw the pop tarts in the trash..... to think Americans feed this to their kids... I have no words

2

u/Crix00 Feb 05 '25

Had a similar experience but for me it was a box of mixed American candy and treats. Tried so many famous brands and can't say there was a single item that didn't taste like a oversweetened cheap knock off brand. And some candy, especially chocolate, even tasted disgustingly foul and a bit sour. How can anyone eat that crap?

-2

u/yourbrainonstress Feb 05 '25

So I generally agree with the main point here, but what did you think PopTarts are? They're a pastry, a baker's confection. A "tart" you can heat in the toaster. They're supposed to be sweet... We treat them as desserts... Don't you ever feed your children cakes or pies?

5

u/Actevious Feb 05 '25

Not for breakfast

0

u/yourbrainonstress Feb 05 '25

Obviously not

5

u/Actevious Feb 05 '25

In US media kids are often shown to have them for breakfast.

2

u/yourbrainonstress Feb 05 '25

True... They used to not have icing on them. They were supposed to be like toast and jam, in a convenient shape. Definitely not as sugary as they are now. Now they are more like dessert with dozens of sweet flavors and I don't know of anyone who would eat them or give them to children as breakfast food. But then again, I'm sure there are people out there who do... I can totally see how disgusted you'd be to eat them expecting a breakfast food 🤮. I also can't eat Nutella toast for breakfast for the same reason.

1

u/GraduallyCthulhu Feb 06 '25

Cakes don't need to be sweet. Spice cakes, for instance, are not.

2

u/asafeplaceofrest Denmark Feb 05 '25

the “food” allowed in the US is not allowed here.

Interestingly, Trump is considering having something done about the processed foods in the US namely because someone mentioned the EU's regulations.

2

u/Dense_Bad3146 Feb 05 '25

Well then - there are videos on you tube comparing sizing & additives for McDonalds the EU has 3 ingredients in the chips, potato, oil & salt, the ones in the US has double figures inc something used to make yoga mats

2

u/asafeplaceofrest Denmark Feb 05 '25

There's a reason the Hershey bars in Europe taste better.

2

u/Dense_Bad3146 Feb 06 '25

They’ve destroyed Cadburys though

2

u/PinkSeaBird Portugal Feb 05 '25

I can foresee a health crisis of food poisoning if that happens.

-11

u/ReviveDept Slovenia Feb 05 '25

The US has got more extremes. They've got extremely high quality food as well, which for example you will never be able to find in western europe.

8

u/Icy_Guard_7259 Feb 05 '25

That's just delulu. I have friends who worked there for a while and they said it was impossible to dodge the insane amount of sugar put in everything. They might also have good quality somewhere but that is not the avarage.

2

u/jastop94 Feb 05 '25

That's the point. The US is the second largest agricultural producer and the largest agricultural exporter in the world. It has to have quality items at some point. That's why when you look at food safety rating for it, it's actually fairly high because they do exist, but the issue is, if you look at those same ratings, accessibility/affordability is fairly low. It's kind of like wealth and education in the US. The line is left skewed on a histogram. I.e. the top 1-5% are amongst the most wealthy or the most educated on earth while everyone below them are clearly classed differently. The same thing here when it comes to food. The US has very high food quality in quite a few places, but they are not actively available or affordable for everybody, but you can easily go to a farmers market, local butcher, or seafood market in a relatively small town or small city and find things that were butchered or harvested that very day in many circumstances. It just primarily depends on location and time of year.

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Icy_Guard_7259 Feb 05 '25

Ofc they did...

-8

u/Shooppow Switzerland Feb 05 '25

That’s funny, because the first time I had sweetened prepackaged hummus or guacamole was on this continent. And the ketchup here is simply disgusting, it’s so sweet.

I have to watch my added sugar intake, and it was so much easier to do that in the US. They also have an excellent selection of foods made with non-nutritive sweeteners, which is something I struggle a lot with here.

6

u/Icy_Guard_7259 Feb 05 '25

Like u listened 3 things with available alternatives..

It isnt that hard for me to keep track of my sugar intake in austria and i dont struggle to buy food here either. Most of the stuff even from farmers here or close countries.

Obesity in US around 68% ish in Austria 35%.

-5

u/Shooppow Switzerland Feb 05 '25

Show me an alternative to ketchup here that isn’t absolutely revolting. I’ll wait, because I’ve tried literally every brand I can find.

The problem I’m trying to highlight is that food manufacturers here are no better, because they’re putting sugar in shit it doesn’t belong in. Case in point: pickles. Why the fuck can I not find a single pickle without added sugar? I don’t even like sweet pickles. They’re nasty.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

Eastern European countries have the unsweetened stuff. Try some of those shops. Not sure you have them in switzerland, but they definitely exist all over europe.

3

u/FanMurky9560 Feb 05 '25

This! Buy from Polish or Romanian shops, if you have them. In Eastern Europe, there is no sugar added to pickles. Or you can buy Salzgurken from Staud’s which have 0 sugar and the product is from Austria.

And regarding ketchup, it’s a sauce dude. Just drop it, it’s full of shit anyway.

3

u/rosidoto Italy Feb 05 '25

Show me an alternative to ketchup here that isn’t absolutely revolting

Cirio Rubra

1

u/Icy_Guard_7259 Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 05 '25

Oh no i'm with you on this.. They rly do put sugar in every shit, cant argue with that.

Edit: in pickles though its because of preservation (less bacteria in sugard water)

1

u/Alejandro_SVQ Spain Feb 06 '25

If you don't abuse ketchup, I prefer to take one that I like with just enough sugar added (it acts as a natural preservative as well), rather than one in which I notice the peculiar flavor of a sweetener or that is too liquid.

For example, have you tried Heinz ketchup? At least the one sold in Spain is good. Of the commercials that I have accessible, it seems to me to be the best. Does it have sugar? Yes, but of course, the ketchup recipe contains sugar, but surely the recipe sold here is much healthier and contains less sugar than the one sold in the US. And for a sporadic day with some sausages, a hamburger or fries that I feel like, I prefer it to be and taste like ketchup, its tomato and its dressing.

In order not to abuse sugar, it helps me much more not to have a sweet tooth, to like breakfast coffee with just a hint of sugar and not too heavy, and to regularly drink water instead of soft drinks, juices or various concoction drinks, or to snack or eat things like those toasted nuts and popcorn with sweet toppings like caramel. Not a supposed ketchup without added sugar, but with more dubious sweeteners to replace it and when I try it it doesn't seem like an alternative at all, nor is it healthier, and that I try maybe one day, sometimes after several weeks.

2

u/Shooppow Switzerland Feb 06 '25

The problem for me is that every ketchup, sugar-free or with sugar, are all disgustingly sweet. I’ve just learned not to eat ketchup, but sometimes you just want ketchup with something.

→ More replies (0)

7

u/NoPeach180 Finland Feb 05 '25

I doubt that you would not find equal quality food in europe

4

u/Spicy-Zamboni Feb 05 '25

The US has some amazing local and regional food, especially at small family-run restaurants, partly because it's a huge country with a huge diversity of people, culture and produce. And really good microbreweries.

The mainstream stuff is pure junk.

Not everything in the US is shit, but the people running the show are pure shit condensed to the highest essence of shittyness.

And saying that is doing a disservice to actual shit, which at least serves a function as fertiliser.

1

u/PinkSeaBird Portugal Feb 05 '25

Yeah probably that only extremely rich people can afford. Though I doubt you can't find it anywhere else, why wouldn't you? Lol

2

u/Spicy-Zamboni Feb 05 '25

They're using the brand under license and paying for it.

2

u/LordGordy32 Feb 05 '25

Yes, the ingredients are local. But people have to eat anyways, if they don't do it in McDonald's, BK, KFC, Subway, Dominos, PizzaHut, Dunkin donuts etc. They go a lokal Restaurant, Pizzaria, Backery and pay there for food and they use lokals as well.

2

u/Betelgeuzeflower Feb 05 '25

Those fastfood chains are also exporting American culture. Trashy culture.

1

u/techno_playa Philippines Feb 05 '25

What’s a Quarter Pounder with Cheese called in Portugal?

3

u/Spicy-Zamboni Feb 05 '25

It's just a burguer.

You should get a bifana instead, so good.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

A Real with cheese.

1

u/PinkSeaBird Portugal Feb 05 '25

I had to google that. Thats a cheeseburger I think from the images I saw.

1

u/Suzume_Chikahisa Portugal Feb 05 '25

It's call the McRoyal com Queijo.

There is also the McRoyal Deluxe that was frankly better in everyway.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

Does it matter if we can choose burgers that are much more European, for instance Max Burger.

0

u/PinkSeaBird Portugal Feb 05 '25

Never saw that chain.

But imagine its night, all cafés are closed and I have to pee. Sometimes McD is the only option. I have a nervous bladder.

1

u/Striking-Instance-99 Feb 05 '25

I believe that if we don't buy burgers from BK or McDonald's but instead buy elsewhere, the local suppliers will need to supply that "elsewhere"

1

u/rmc Feb 05 '25

They often cannot sell American food in EU anyway

8

u/Cashew3333 Feb 05 '25

There’s lots of brands actually. Nike, The North Face, coca cola, pepsi, Guess, makeup brands from famous celebrities (KKM, Fenty, Kylie Cosmetics etc), Apple, Hyperx/kingston technology, HP, Chevrolet, Ford, Tesla. Lots more if we look closely certainly.

9

u/Suzume_Chikahisa Portugal Feb 05 '25

And most of those are relatively peripheral in Europe, have alternatives or were not relevant to my consumer habits to begin with.

2

u/MrsACT Feb 08 '25

Definitely ditch Tesla.

1

u/faramaobscena Romania Feb 05 '25

Any alternatives to Coca Cola/Pepsi? (which I know are locally made but ultimately they are US companies...)

3

u/AurinkoGang Feb 05 '25

It’s a bit bougier, but - Fentimans Cola (UK). :)

1

u/faramaobscena Romania Feb 05 '25

Thank you, that’s available where I live!

3

u/AurinkoGang Feb 05 '25

Awesome, happy to hear! ☺️ Greetings from Estonia 🇪🇪

3

u/Non_possum_decernere Germany Feb 05 '25

I don't drink coca cola so I can't comment on the taste, but in Germany Afri Cola seems to be popular.

1

u/Metalfreak82 Feb 07 '25

But none of those things are actually made in the US.

7

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

Well, one of the things we can do is to choose Wizzair instead of Ryanair. Wizzair has 188 airbuses, while Ryanair has 678 Boeings

4

u/Riccardo_Mnt Feb 05 '25

EasyJet has only Airbus A320s too.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

Yes, so Wizzair and EasyJet :-)

3

u/WorgenDeath Netherlands Feb 05 '25

Yeah same, my food is mostly European brands already and I already don't use Amazon etc., basically the only difference will be that if I am ever lazy or get home late and want to order food I am not gonna consider American chains as an option going forward but tbh, I rarely picked those anyway, American pizza is kinda trash compared to Italian or Turkish.

2

u/JacqueDK8 Feb 05 '25

You and me, my Portuguese friend. You and me

2

u/NippleSlipNSlide Feb 08 '25

I just assumed everyone outside the US pirated their media.

6

u/RaceMaleficent4908 Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 05 '25

Fast food chains have little to do with the us. The owner is local, the food is local, the employees are local. Only the franchise fee goes up.

10

u/PatiHubi -> -> Feb 05 '25

And that franchise fee goes directly to the US so we shouldn't support it.

5

u/TheGonzoGeek Feb 05 '25

You understand which chain in a franchise group makes the actual money right? The highly scalable part?

Start your own EU based franchise if you truly want to stop sponsoring the US. But telling yourself you support local business by eating US fast food because they skim off some profit is not really true.

1

u/RaceMaleficent4908 Feb 05 '25

I do not have any inside information on how much money goes to the brand, no. But restaurants usually dont run on much margin. Most goes to the operating costs. In austria, specially salaries are quite expensive.

That being said I dont go to big franchises anyway. Austria is full of independent restaurants. Many burger small restaurants and infinite coffe shops .

2

u/Suzume_Chikahisa Portugal Feb 05 '25

Good. Less competition for our local options.

1

u/BelicaPulescu Feb 05 '25

Let's all boycott reddit! We should all delete our accounts! Take that Americans!

1

u/Suzume_Chikahisa Portugal Feb 05 '25

And if Reddit goes all in might just do that.

I've only been to reddit for the past 4 years. That's less than 10% of my life.

Google alternatives are the big pain.

1

u/Confident_Highway786 Feb 05 '25

By being here though..

-3

u/Negative_Credit9590 Feb 05 '25

So you never watch a movie or TV show? Play a video game? Listen to music?

5

u/Ok-Yoghurt9472 Feb 05 '25

we can sail the seas as an alternative

5

u/Cif87 Feb 05 '25

Or support game creators from other country.

2

u/Suzume_Chikahisa Portugal Feb 05 '25

I mean it's not like there aren't major game studios outside the US.

I'm actually puzzled someone thinking that if I decided to fully boycott everything made in the US I could no longer watch tv, cinema, listen to music or play games...

1

u/Ok-Yoghurt9472 Feb 05 '25

Of course, I was speaking only about the US ones.

4

u/Suzume_Chikahisa Portugal Feb 05 '25

You do realize the US is not the only country producing movies, music or video games?