European consumers are prepared to actively move away from US products and services as a result of President Donald Trump’s trade war, according to research by the European Central Bank.
The researchers even found those views were largely independent from prices, which are normally assumed to drive behavioral changes to trade levies.
“Consumers’ reactions may not just be a temporary response to tariff increases, but instead signal a possible long-term structural shift in consumer preferences away from US products and brands,” the blog said. “It seems that the mere presence of a tariff would prompt a large share of consumers to reconsider what they buy.”
The ECB pointed out that results of similar surveys are very different in the US, where consumers “reported that they would stockpile goods expected to increase in price due to potential tariffs.”
