‘Made In USA’ Brand Reputation Still Stands Strong In Global Markets

Amidst escalating global trade tensions triggered by the Trump’s tariff policies, as well as questions about how his administration will exert U.S. influence throughout the world, the international reputation of the United States experienced a sharp decline this year. According to a global Ipsos poll conducted between March 21 and April 4 among nearly 23,000 adults in 29 countries, this downturn coincided with President Trump’s Liberation Day declaration.

Across the globe, people’s perception of America as a force for good and positive global influence dropped from 60% in October 2024 to only 46% this year. What remained unanswered was how an increasingly negative view of the United States would affect companies doing business in international markets.

RepTrak, a global leader in corporate reputation management, explored that question in a new study and found that the global reputation of the “Made in USA” brand remains strong and international consumers’ likelihood to do business with American brands is solid, with a few exceptions.

“Despite ongoing geo-political and economic tension, the premise of Made in America remains strong in the world and is associated with perceptions of high quality,” RepTrak’s chief reputation and strategy officer Stephen Hahn shared. However, he noted that Canada is an exception, which is not surprising given the rising tensions between the two countries.

“For all intents and purposes, brand USA actually still shines bright and is strong in the world at large,” he continued. “And when it comes to ‘Made in the USA’ versus ‘Made in China,’ the world universally prefers made in USA, with the exception of China.”

Consumers Are On Edge

The “RepTrak Alert Study,” conducted in partnership with Dynata, surveyed 13,000 consumers in ten countries this year, including 1,300 completed responses in each country to ensure that the survey results were projectable. The survey sample was restricted to members of an “informed general population,” meaning they had to have familiarity with one or more of 13 industry segments included in the survey.

Specifically, the market segments included consumer durables and apparel, automobiles, personal care products, consumer discretionary and retail, technology hardware, software, food and beverage, transportation, pharma and biotech, insurance, media and entertainment and energy.

The wide-ranging survey was designed to tease out how individuals’ perceptions and beliefs around key global issues and their personal economic outlook impact their purchasing behavior.

One of the key findings in the survey is that consumers across the globe, but most especially in the Americas, express a fairly high level of anxiety. Roughly one-third of all those surveyed said they were anxious given all the uncertainty in the world.

Anxiety was highest in the U.S., Brazil, Mexico and Canada, but also noted in China, Italy, Australia, U.K. and France. Interestingly, Germany is the least anxious country, with only 22% of those surveyed signaling anxiety.

Pocketbook Issues Dominate

The primary drivers of uncertainly are the cost of living, price inflation and general economic uncertainty. Hahn observed that the issues of America’s trade policies and trade tariffs, in themselves, are not especially anxiety-inducing, but that their implications on the individuals’ cost of living are.

Key takeaways for brands is to be sensitive to local consumers’ concerns by prioritizing price, value and sales promotions with compelling and clear messaging and maintaining transparency on pricing.

“Actions to consider include prioritizing high quality versus price. On the promotional front, consider offering the equivalent of a deeply-discounted $5 menu item to get people to pay attention to what else you have to offer,” Hahn advised.

“Other opportunities include providing assurances around payment terms, pricing guarantees and other things that are more tangible to the consumers’ pocketbook,” he continued.

Made In USA Beats Made In China

With China and the United States as the world’s leading exporters, the made in USA brand stands well above made in China in every country surveyed, except China. On the other hand, consumers in all but one country surveyed rated domestically-produced goods above made in the USA. This is no surprise since “Country First” is a mantra in not just the U.S. but in other countries as well. Brazil is the lone standout, rating made in USA above products made in Brazil.

“What’s interesting is that the desire for locally-made, home-country sourced and domestically assembled goods is especially strong with perceptions of higher quality being tied to country of local origin,” Hahn said.

Notably, Canada and Australia are the most patriotic about locally-made products, although Germany, France, Italy and the U.K. are not far behind. However, in each of those countries made in USA is a clear second choice.

Hahn advises brands to “think global and act local” in their approaches when trading in individual markets. Made in America sourcing is nothing to hide when marketing internationally, however, brands should be sensitive to local concerns and highlight local connections, such as local factories, offices, employment, investments and joint ventures, to maximize opportunities.

Brand USA

Overall, consumers are fairly positive about their intent to purchase goods or services from American companies, with two exceptions: Canada and Germany. A sizeable 41% of Canadians and 30% of Germans say they are unlikely to buy American if a comparable alternative is available, versus 17% and 14% respectively who would be likely to buy.

“Intent to buy American ranks lowest in Canada and Germany, and these feelings are strongly linked to deeply negative feelings about American Trade Policy and tied to a push back on the elevated political rhetoric to tariffs,” Hahn observed, but added constructively, “It’s not an outright rejection of American values.”

While intent to buy American is highest in Brazil (65%), U.S. (61%) and Mexico (48%), it is also surprisingly high in China, where 40% said they are likely to buy compared with only 11% who are unlikely to purchase made in USA.

For the rest of the countries – Australia, U.K., France and Italy – the majority of consumers are neutral in regards to made in USA, but their likelihood to buy American is higher than their unlikeliness to buy.

In conclusion, Hahn reassuringly stated, “Some anti-American sentiment exists among a minority of the world’s population, but it’s not significant, and only marginally impacts intent to buy from American companies.”