US shoppers ‘less likely’ to buy British products due to tariffs

The vast majority of US shoppers say they would be less likely to buy UK products if tariffs pushed their prices up, exclusive new data has showed.

Nearly one in 10 US consumers said they would not buy UK goods if prices were to increase by around 10% as a result of Donald Trump’s trade levies. Meanwhile, 22% said they would be “much less likely to buy” and a whopping 42% said they would be “slightly less likely” to buy them.

This is according to a new survey of US shoppers by marketing research agency Stickybeak, in which the majority said price increases linked to Trump’s new tariff regime would affect their purchasing decisions. Just 29% claimed the price rises “would make no difference” in their decision to buy UK products.

At a household level, nearly half of US shoppers expected the tariffs to have a ‘significant’ or ‘very significant’ impact on their budget. A third noted some impact, while 19% said they expected the impact on their budget to be ‘not significant’.

As a result, consumers would be looking for US-made alternatives, Stickybeak CEO Anna Henwood noted: “The very worrying thing for non-US brands and products is that over half of American consumers say they will now look for an American-made substitute.

“Sometimes this is hard to do on product quality or function, and for food and drink products people will continue to put a premium on things like taste and purity, but there will be some swapping for sure.”

Julianne Ponan, CEO of British allergen free-from brand Creative Nature – which is seeking expansion in the US markets – said it was “really disheartening” to learn of US shoppers’ potential retreat from UK brands due to the price hikes.

Read more: Trump tariffs could raise UK cheese price by 25% in US

“We’ve only dipped our toe in the water so far, but have already been approached by larger retailers and distributors including exciting opportunities with Chex and The Fresh Market.

“Unfortunately, we’ve had to turn these specific ones with Fresh Market and Chex down, due to tariffs, our allergen-free baking mixes would end up on shelves at a price point that simply isn’t fair or competitive for consumers,” she said.

Ponan added that accessibility to the US market was already difficult and “is being made even harder by these tariffs”.

“For small, innovative businesses like ours, this creates a real barrier to entry. Setting up manufacturing in the US could be one solution, but the cost of doing so especially in such a highly regulated category is a significant hurdle.”

She said setting up operations in the US was also “a major risk when it comes to marketing investment”.

“If consumer sentiment is already skewed away from UK products due to cost, the return on any spend in brand awareness or shopper communication is harder to justify – especially for smaller brands with limited budgets.

“It’s a real shame, because UK brands have a lot to offer.”

Read more: Food exporters struggle amid confusion of Trump’s tariffs

When asked whether they felt about imposing tariffs on UK goods, 40% of US consumers said they opposed, while 30% remained neutral and another 30% were in the support camp.

Despite some of the support, nearly one in two shoppers felt a 10% tariff was too high, while only 14% considered that figure low.

Henwood said that “absorbing costs temporarily or a tiered pricing strategy could be a good interim strategy” for British brands navigating the current uncertainty.

“If this isn’t possible, communicating price adjustments clearly and doubling down on localised value messaging would be recommended.”

For Chinese suppliers, however, the survey painted a strikingly different picture, with nearly half of people supporting the tough import fees.

“That’s bad news for Chinese products because 45% of US consumers support tariffs on Chinese products and when you consider that this tariff represents up to 50% extra, that is potentially an awful lot more to pay on a lot of everyday products,” Henwood said.

“Whatever the rest of us outside the US might think of his policy, Trump’s messaging on the need for tariffs is having an impact.”

‍This impact is already rippling across world economies, with the International Monetary Fund this week downgrading its global growth forecast.

Its new report said the increase in tariff rates and uncertainty would cause a “significant slowdown”. It was now expecting the US economy to grow 1.8% this year, down from its previous estimate of 2.7%.

The IMF also shrunk growth expectations for the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan, and warned there was a 40% chance of a recession in the US.

UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves is currently attending the IMF’s annual spring meeting in Washington DC, where she is hoping to further negotiations on a potential US-UK trade deal.

According to media reports, she will be focusing on reducing tariffs on UK steel, cars and aluminium, having promised to “defend Britain’s interests”.

Meanwhile, a recent Nexus poll of 2,000 UK consumers showed more than half (52%) were less likely to buy US products now than 12 months ago, and that 57% of consumers would boycott US food and drink brands if unfair tariffs were put on British products.