Consequences of the customs dispute: Majority wants to boycott US products at Zoll dispute

From gasoline at the petrol pump to the iPhone to online retailers or streaming service-products from the USA are hard to imagine in everyday life. Nevertheless, according to a representative YouGov survey, more than half of the people in Germany no longer want to buy US goods in the event of a customs dispute.

Political protest at the cash register

When asked whether they could imagine continuing to buy products from the United States in relation to the customs dispute, 53 percent of the more than 2,000 respondents answered “no, certainly not” or with “no, probably not”.

As the main reason, the respondents cited political motives – many (48 percent) wanted to boycott the United States deliberately. In addition, many people in the context of the customs dispute are not willing to pay higher prices for American products (44 percent).

9 percent of the respondents, on the other hand, definitely want to continue to buy products from the USA, another 25 percent “probably”. However, a third (34 percent) of those willing to buy indicated that they could not be able to identify exactly which products from the USA are coming. About every fifth (22 percent) of this group considers a boycott to be senseless by individual consumers.

Vacation planning also affected

Vacation plans could also be affected: only around a quarter of the respondents can still imagine going on vacation in the USA. 37 percent exclude this or consider it unlikely – also mostly for political reasons.

In the end, a complete boycott of US companies would not only mean a rejection of American products, but ultimately also waiver of Google search, Instagram posts, WhatsApp messages, Netflix films or orders at Amazon. The survey left open whether people would be ready – and the demarcation should also be significantly more difficult in everyday life than in theory.