Protesters rally against Elon Musk’s actions in the Trump Administration at a Tesla showroom in New York, February 15, 2025 (Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg/Getty)
Originally published by the Irish Times:
Boycotting America may seem a fruitless, quixotic pursuit, yet even contemplating it is a radical imaginative act. We will need more of those as the world we have known is turned on its head.
EA on RTE Radio 1: Trump Administration v. Ireland on Trade
Boycotts as a form of political expression and leverage have their roots in Ireland. Indeed the Irish have a strong claim to having invented the boycott, a term and practice that took root following the ostracism in 1880 of an English land agent named Charles Cunningham Boycott by his local community in Mayo.
Today, boycotts are a feature of the culture wars everywhere, particularly in the United States.
The most intensive examples of the past 10 years have usually been generated by the grassroots base of the party which is not in power. During the Biden Presidency, there were several large-scale boycott initiatives aimed at major corporations. The best known was the widespread boycott of Bud Light beer in 2023 by conservative Americans unhappy that the company had collaborated on a social media promotion with a transgender influencer. That campaign showed that boycotts could have bite, as Bud Light experienced a serious sales decline for eight months, resulting in an estimated $395 million loss.
Now, with the Trump presidency, the boycotting impetus is with progressive civil society actors –– civil rights activists, faith groups and labour advocacy groups –– who are protesting against companies cutting back on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
One of the most prominent is a black American-led protest against the retail giant Target, which has reversed DEI initiatives. A Harris poll in mid-February showed that four in 10 Americans were shifting their shopping habits to align with their politics, with liberals doing so in greater numbers than conservatives. A grassroots organisation called The Peoples Union USA has been asking Americans to carry out an “economic blackout” by not shopping for a day. It is also planning weekly boycotts of selected companies, including Amazon and Walmart.
Boycotts of American goods and services from outside the US – something that would once have been unthinkable – have also been increasing in number and intensity. In Canada, where many are incensed by Trump’s threats about tariffs and references to the “51st state”, a surge of patriotism has energised boycott initiatives, with polls showing that 80 per cent of Canadians are buying more Canadian products and stores are labelling items “Made in Canada”. They are eschewing American Bourbon and Californian wine and shopping local instead of on Amazon Prime. New apps that allow Canadians to identify products with an American link are proving popular.
There are similar campaigns taking root across Europe to use boycotts to protest the Trump administration’s policies regarding Ukraine and its proposed imposition of tariffs, similar to the boycotts of Russia goods.
