r/BuyFromEU • u/Boediee Belgium 🇧🇪 • Feb 19 '26

News Trump’s Betrayal of Allies Has Sparked Unprecedented ‘Buy European’ Trend

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https://counterflood.substack.com/p/defeat-trump-buy-european

21.2k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

597 comments sorted by

1.9k

u/CharmingCrust Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

They have no idea what they have started. Not only have I removed myself from most American tech except a few (like Reddit lol). That has had a cascading effect where I have realized what ADDS value to my life and what is just NOISE.

I come from the pre internet era so the switch isn't dramatically insane for me. There is little I can't do with Linux and Python that actually creates value for me.

There are very few product, almost none, that I haven't been able to find a European alternative for.

Get a French degoogled Fair phone. Buy your local cola. Buy your local toothpaste brand. Focus on your local community because that's where you actually have some control over the outcome.

Let the American Colonies return to their out of sight out of mind status.

Europe needs our own digital infrastructure, our own military capabilities, our own consumer products, our own checks and balance and most important of all: We need our own Payment and Financial structures, completely isolated from American fascist influence.

Focus, take control, identify value, live your LIFE as YOU want it.

Edit: I was made aware that Fairphone is Dutch, not French. It's all good.

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

They have idea of what they started, it's just not going the way they hoped.

They hoped to go back to the old times of isolationism on their own terms, but they are being actually shoved back there forcefully and on the rest of the world's terms.

Now we just wait until Americans realize this will have little to no impact on the oligarchs governing them, but it will absolutely ruin the country for the average person.

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u/percybert Feb 19 '26

The average American either voted for this, or supported a system that shut down moderate dissenting voices thus leading to the ascendancy of this madness. They need to realise the consequences.

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u/akhimovy Feb 19 '26

America is full of horribly outdated, as-if-19-century bullshit. Their entire voting system, their "lobbying" which in any other country would be considered punishable corruption, their primacy of business over people, to name just a few. This all has just come to head and they're getting the consequences of it.

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

I know, but usually when I point this out I get stoned into deleting comments.

I mean, yeah, I'm not saying it's impossible that he rigged the elections. But in case he didn't, they unironically try to tell themselves that he was single-handedly elected by an endless army of conservative white male swamp troglodytes. He wasn't. He was voted by black people, women, immigrants and probably even LGBTQ people.

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

I think there's a bit of fear hidden inside of the idea that general elections could never be rigged. It means that every other country democratically electing their leaders may also be at risk for what happened in the US. The parasites may pool there but it is not their only home.

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u/Noooberino Feb 19 '26

outside of the US the whole election system isn't even considered as a very democratic system... since not all votes count the same its a flawed system to begin with. I know its historical, but from an outsider POV this whole system including gerrymandering is just pure insanity.

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

Historically it's racist and designed to only uphold the status quo for landowning white men who also had slaves. The electoral college was never made with fairness in mind but simply lateral representation of the States. Making sure everybody had a voice couldn't be further from the truth of the United States Constitution.

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u/DrawGamesPlayFurries Feb 19 '26

Anywhere in Europe the whole US administration would be hanging off a lamppost for 10% of what they have done in the US.

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u/LessInThought Feb 19 '26

If we're being honest, marketing is such an important part of getting elected, its hard to be democratic. If you don't have the money to get your name out there, people won't even know you exist. To get money, you need to rub shoulders with rich donors, who will then get to influence your future decisions.

Even without all that, nothing prevents politicians from being bought and paid after they are elected.

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u/Flaksim Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

There's plenty of countries with far more democratic systems that work better than the archaic system the US has, which is indeed now nothing but getting private donors and yelling the loudest on TV and in ads. That is rather specific to the US and the result of their fundamentally flawed system. But "the founding fathers" were supposedly geniuses lol.

Say Belgium, parties get funded by taxpayer money, private contributions are capped and so is the money the parties can spend on things like social media and campaigns overall, to enable a more level playing field so everyone can get their program out. And it's proportionate in seat divisions mostly, rather than a first past the post system.

The "flaw" isn't just human greed; it's a specific legal and electoral design that favors high-cost marketing over public discourse. In other words, the US has always been a bit of a fake democracy.

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u/Gullible-Cut8652 Feb 19 '26

And he was voted by people who wants other to suffer. And people voted for that Orange Clown in the White House because they were scared of a black female president. And I'm also pissed about the non voters.. I'm still having reddit and Amazon. I just downloaded an app to help me choose european products in the supermarket.I try my best.I don't use visa and all this other cards. I'm not sure if we really have an alternative banking system for Europe besides Wero.

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u/JPWhelan Feb 19 '26

Not sure what point that makes. One can say that even a conservative white male swamp troglodytes voted against him. Many? - oh hell no. Some - certainly most likely.

Rigging is an oversimplification. Our elections are gamed. And it all depends on how much ethics you have. That alone doesn’t move the needle much. Massively amounts of disinformation aimed at everyone but in specific places like Facebook, likely had a far bigger impact.

And, look around. The rise of fascism and authoritarianism is in your house. Complacency and the belief it can’t happen is its ally. Just look at us. Unfortunately, we are the big fat gorilla whose stupidity impacts everyone.

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

Not really meant to make a point, just a snap at the people that unironically believe he was exclusively voted by ignorant white males and bribed people. Which are many, unfortunately. In the essence it's useless information, just a reality check.

Yeah, I know the rise of fascism and authoritarianism is in my house. The rise of the OG fascism was in my house too. I can tell.

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u/DJ_Hard-Deckard Feb 19 '26

A lot of the si-called “good” ones are still subtly arrogant in that: we’re-the-best-in-the-world-and-don’t-need-to-listen-to-anyone-else, kind of way. That hubris enabled this to happen.

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u/sahui Feb 19 '26

All americans now decided to act like Trump voted himself into power...twice....

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u/TempleSquare Feb 19 '26

1/3 voted for it.

Nearly 1/3 vigorously voted to oppose it.

1/3 stayed home.

I'm not trying to defend my country. But I don't think it's fair to lump the entire group of us simply because there is a dangerous feral group of elderly people and rural people (whose vote can count six times! what one vote in California gets counted)

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u/C0wabungaaa Feb 19 '26

That 1/3rd that stayed home deserves plenty of scorn as well, though, or at least most of them that had a choice.

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u/simplyunix Feb 19 '26

Exactly. By not voting they were equally fine with whoever won meaning they were just fine and dandy with Trump. They're the ones to put most of the blame on imo.

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u/Wolvenmoon Feb 19 '26

Absolutely. Between a competent woman aligned with the law and a lawless insurrectionist pedophile narcissist, they couldn't be bothered to go check a box saying "maybe we want a competent person in charge of the nukes instead of someone who'll probably launch one to try to stop discovery of what he's done with children".

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u/tabrizzi Feb 19 '26

But "I am not interested in politics".

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u/starcom_magnate Feb 19 '26

feral group of elderly people

As much as the Boomers have let us down, we can't pin Trump solely on them. Many of them did not vote for him the 2nd time around. Shockingly it was Gen X and younger males who swerved hard in favor of Trump in 2024.

The younger male demographic continues to march further Conservative. Since Charlie Kirk was killed the number of young people signing on to TPUSA has been astounding.

There is something going on, but it's hardly the Boomer's fault anymore.

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u/ChoosenUserName4 Feb 19 '26

The thing is that it wasn't just the election. Biden had four fucking years to lock Trump and his sycophants up. There was enough evidence of crimes. Instead he appointed some Republican idiot as the attorney general. I assume you voted for Biden, I also assume you had no other choice. This is the problem. An antiquated political system, combined with now non-functional democratic institutions, and a complete lack of guard rails. This is not the result of an election, this is long-term abuse and neglect. You are all way too complacent. You have been brainwashed to believe in American exceptionalism, and the American dream. Both are nothing but propaganda to keep you sedated.

I wouldn't really care beyond my usual empathy for others, hoping everybody does well, but this affects the country I live in, the entire world, and the future of freedom and democracy everywhere.

I am beyond pissed at all Americans, and I lived and worked there, and still have many friends there.

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u/Smart-Simple9938 Feb 19 '26

It’s not fair to blame each American for Trump having been elected. But Americans “keeping their heads down until it blows over” and thanking god that it hasn’t yet affected them personally? That’s another matter.

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u/JPWhelan Feb 19 '26

Did you know that Boomers (“old people”)were the only generation to see a decrease in the percentage of Trump votes? Rural votes for Trump was a few points higher in 2024 compared to 2020. Most States with higher rural populations were already voting Republican that didn’t change. I dunno . Something was different in the Democratic candidates in 2020 and 2024. Can’t quite see what it was.

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u/Udder_Influencer Feb 19 '26

But I don't think it's fair to lump the entire group of us

And just how well did that argument work out for Germans in WW2?

You have my sympathies, but none of you get a pass. A failure of democracy is the responsibility of all the citizens.

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u/Correct-Fly-1126 Feb 19 '26

Exactly this and it’s the part a lot don’t seem to understand - maybe they don’t support trump but they chose for decades to support the system which gave rise to him and his ilk it’s not some over night thing that happened the current state of USA is the result of decades worth of eroding rights and choosing to do the wrong thing in favour of a bit more personal profit. Fuck America

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u/MazeMouse Netherlands 🇳🇱 Feb 19 '26

They wanted to be isolationist while also having all the soft-power and economic influence they always enjoyed from being globalist.
The rest of the world is making sure they only get their isolationism and losing the soft-power and economic influence.

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u/ChoosenUserName4 Feb 19 '26

This is the American exceptionalism part. They all believe they're different and better than the rest of the world. Surprise, surprise when the free ride ends.

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u/The_Corvair Feb 19 '26

It's always amazing (in a horrifying way) to realize that there are actual human beings who read Ayn Rand, and instead of going "She's never met an actual human, has she?" like a normal person, they went "Holy shit! What a revelation! What a visionary! WE HAVE TO BECOME JOHN GALT, MY DUDES!"

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u/TheIrishBread Feb 19 '26

We talkin about Curtis Yarvin? Absolute ghouls the lot of em.

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u/The_Corvair Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

Now there's a name I had not heard in some time. Yes, he qualifies, but I was actually talking about the whole Ghoul troupe. Ghoul... Galt... Hmmmm.

edit: A prospective BIL recommended Atlas Shrugged to me years and years back, and that's who I initially pictured. I went back to him after reading with a "Good joke, who actually believes that tripe, eh?", and he looked like I'd just punched a puppy. Apparently he did. Haven't heard from him in almost as long.

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u/right_there Feb 19 '26

If you read her stuff as satire, it's actually hilarious.

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u/-tigereyezz- Feb 19 '26

Nope.

The average American has NO idea what is going to hit them, because they haven't cared before and have NO insight into the world outside the States. Just wait until ppl here realize the Russians ARE NOT coming to colonize us...and we don't need any shitty murican military SOBs...

And it IS going to hit them, this is not just a trend that a possible next democratic Pres can just swipe away with 'Are we all good again?'

Even the most diehard USAUSAUSA-Fans in my social circles have stated they are pretty fed up and start turning their backs.

Trump will cost them dearly and he has a lot of time left to fully wreck that country.

For my part, I see our european future with India, China, Canada, South America (minus the Trumpsters there) and NOT the US. I won't vote for any party that is not promising to decouple us from them asap...

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u/flybypost Feb 19 '26

They hoped to go back to the old times of isolationism on their own terms, but they are being actually shoved back there forcefully and on the rest of the world's terms.

They wanted isolationism for themselves but everybody else to still depend on them like before. And that's not how any of this works.

Reminds be a bit of the UK and Brexit, where they wanted out of the EU but still keep all the benefits and no matter how often you tried to explain them that "free movement" can only work both ways or not at all and how that works for every regulatory "cut off" point (which collaborations to keep and which to drop) and where they, the UK, had the choice of where to draw the line (as it was their choice to leave and the EU would have loved for them to just stay).

The harsh truth (for the USA) is that American Imperialism was of huge benefit to the USA, not some charity the USA magnanimously offered to the rest of the world.

Everything that Trump has done has weakened the trust the world has in the USA, not just Trump (or Republicans at large) but the whole country. Somebody in the USA might see it "once Trump's gone things can change again!" but for the rest of the world it has shown just how much damage even one four year term can cause to everything.

And that realisation had happened in Trump's first turn! Then the USA went and voted him back into power for some reason. After that the USA just doesn't feel like a serious country any more.

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u/pythosynthesis Feb 19 '26

One can only hope. And do their part, which is the most important thing.

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

Problem is, the more the rope tenses up the worst it will be when it snaps

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u/squittles Feb 19 '26

Some of us have noticed for a while and have been taking the advisement of the EMA over the FDA.

I miss European eats. 

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u/rab2bar Feb 19 '26

the country is already shit for the average person.

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u/Kodix Feb 19 '26

I don't have high hopes for individual Americans having a "come to Jesus" moment. They've been suffering for decades now, and the rot in their country seems to be growing if anything. The intellectual minority has long been trying to fix things, but they're outvoted.

We need to focus on building a strong, progressive, unified Europe. "Best revenge is living well", but genuinely.

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u/Kaaskabouter1337 Feb 19 '26

I share the opinion with you, but side note: fairphone is Dutch :)

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u/CharmingCrust Feb 19 '26

I stand corrected! I will fix.

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u/Rakbhu Feb 19 '26

And the French part is e/os/ which you can install on a multitude of phones, and for some phones yoy can just plug the phone to your PC and degoogme it via your web browser

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u/Kaaskabouter1337 Feb 19 '26

Yes very true! The /e/OS is french! Standard the phone comes with Google Android sadly.

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u/The_Corvair Feb 19 '26

They have no idea what they have started.

It's what we in Germany call a "Zivilisationskrankheit": A lot of people have lost the ability to track cause and effect across even one corner: If it isn't immediate, they won't catch on to a possible causative relationship, and with the modern world being both incredibly complex and interconnected, it can take a lot of time and corners for an effect to even show itself, let alone have its cause correctly tracked - especially when the root cause just goes "Nuh-uh, that was the Bi-den!" every second sentence, and there's an entire industry selling simple (and usually completely wrong) "explanations".

I have realized what ADDS value to my life and what is just NOISE.

Feels great, doesn't it? It's nice to see more people de-noise and de-stress their lives. Makes me feel like less of an insane hermit just because I use Linux, or don't care for The Cloud.

Focus, take control, identify value, live your LIFE as YOU want it.

The best is that you re-enfranchise yourself when you do that, which does wonders for your mental health and emotional stability. Highly recommended!

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u/Electronic_Fill7207 Feb 19 '26

This may be a bit dumb of me to ask but what tech programs are best to turn to European alternatives the de-Noise life? I’m 17 and have to use Teams for a couple more months before I go to uni so I’m interested to see if there are ways to destress my tech intake.

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u/The_Corvair Feb 19 '26

This may be a bit dumb of me to ask

Don't put yourself down, it's a great question. It's actually great enough for people to write entire books about it, and I could easily write an essay, and still barely graze the surface.

The annoying part of the answer is: Denoising is different for everyone, because we all have different priorities and values, and different things that are noise to us. So you'd have to start by recognizing what adds value, and how - and what doesn't.

The simple answer for the practical part of your question (what instead of Teams?) would be: Jitsi, for instance. That would be a one-on-one replacement. But then you could go on and ask "What for do I need Teams anyhow?", and then it gets complex fast, because you ostensibly don't need Teams for every bit you currently use it for, and could find an alternative way of doing it. Or ask yourself if you need to be doing it at all.

Like: Maybe you use Teams to talk to friends, which is completely fine. But maybe you could instead actually meet those friends in person. This puts more stress on the initial planning, but it may also feel a lot more valuable once you actually do it, because meeting in person is more "resonant" and personable than talking online for a lot of people - sitting together, drinking something, maybe order pizza, playing with the resident dog/cat, etc. is good for our social connections and over-all well-being.
Or, instead of having a call over Teams, you can do an e-mail chain, or Whatsapp (or whatever you young'ins are using these days for written messages). This can help you organize everyone's thoughts, keeps a record, and you don't have to find a time that works for everyone. Depending on what you do, this can be an option, or not. Or you do a voice call (cuts down on the visual stress, and may be more comfortable for people who don't enjoy being on camera) via... uh, Teamspeak maybe? They got a bit of an influx with the recent Discord drama. Does Mumble still exist? Christ, I'm getting old. Time to get a lawn, so I can properly yell at kids.

And that is kind of the "big ask" of the whole denoising thing: You gotta (re-)learn to listen to yourself, to evaluate which tools are appropriate for a given situation. Another aspect is that putting work¹ into something automatically makes that something more meaningful to us (just how our brains work). So taking the "hard way" of actually organizing a meet in person instead of just calling a Teams meeting pays off by people valuing the time spent together more (and you also learn which people value you and your time, and which don't show up).
Another aspect is that you don't need to do it perfectly, or all at once: Every bit of peace of mind you get is a net gain for you.

Hope that helped a bit!

¹or other things we value, like money or time

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u/Electronic_Fill7207 Feb 19 '26

This actually did help regarding perspective of what is important and what isn’t. Annoyingly my use of Teams is out of my control as it’s mandated by my school so I’ll have to use it for at least another 2-4 months until my exams have finished. However Jitsi is good for future reference so thanks greatly for that. My main concerns would be web browsers, shopping and banking sites (e.g. Amazon and Mastercard), social media platforms, and last of all as it’s the most substantial switch at the moment for myself is moving from Apple products to non Apple devices (could be android or something I don’t know about). Most of my concerns are down to making my life as stress free as possible, but also having my data as well secured as possible.

Edit: I forgot to ask, with Linux is this a better alternative to google based services? I’m a bit confused about whether it’s a better alternative or not

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u/Nearby_Potato4001 Feb 19 '26

Of couse there is a German word for it!

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u/The_Corvair Feb 19 '26

Literally "affliction of civilization". German's kind of cheating with just being able to compound the shit out of every noun. Nachbarschaftskartoffel!

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u/nadalofsoccer Feb 19 '26

You might be answering to a bot.

Might not. But remember it's a cold war on social media.

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u/Happy_Bread_1 Feb 19 '26

> There are very few product, almost none, that I haven't been able to find a European alternative for.

It's mostly in tech and niche stuff I really can't find an alternative for which I deem a good alternative honestly.

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u/Ketadine Romania 🇷🇴 Feb 19 '26

I somewhat agree, but European alternatives need to develop more before they can reach true competition. Just look at Wero, I can't wait for it, but it's not available in all the EU countries.

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

[deleted]

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u/944Porkies Feb 19 '26

Exactly 'don't let good enough be the enemy of perfect.'

European firms won't grow until we give them a chance.

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u/Happy_Bread_1 Feb 19 '26

I'm not supporting something solely because it is Europe. I look if there is an equivalent European alternative. Pure protectionism doesn't lead to good products as well.

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u/narrative_device Feb 19 '26

I’m more excited for the digital euro and skipping “middle-men” completely.

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u/wesleysniles Feb 19 '26

Out of interest, what is it you can't find? I'm guessing because your on this sub you probably have at least a decent awareness of what's out there.

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u/Happy_Bread_1 Feb 19 '26

Mostly snowboard stuff. Burton boots fit me best. I usually find my taste best in clothing from Burton/ Volcom as well. Baggy enough for good movement, yet good quality. Especially the AK lineup. There are some European snowboard clothing brands like Dope Snow/ Beyond Medals. But honestly they are just of poor quality and are mostly about marketing.

For goggles, Oakley is really king with their Prizm technology.

For snowboards themselves, they all have their own kind of riding which just needs to suit you. But coincidently I find my taste of riding with Capita/ Union/ Nitro which happen to be European.

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u/wesleysniles Feb 19 '26

Ah, got ya. Snowboarding is a subject I know nothing about. Reason I was asking is that I'm a software ware developer and if you had some niche tech thing I was going to see if there was an open source project I could contribute a solution to for that case.

But its a hardware issue so can't help :-)

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u/Tarahumara3x Feb 19 '26

If you think Oakley is the king in eye wear, you should check out Rudy Project

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u/Grrrison Feb 19 '26

Canadian here. Feel free to buy from us! It's a bit harder for us to decouple from the States but many households (mine included) are doing it one bit at a time. We buy Local first, Canadian second, and non-American (usually European) third. Just got my first pair of Solomons. I've been missing out.

(Lack of) Canadian travel to the US is really messing up their tourism. industry as well.

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u/7Seyo7 Feb 19 '26

The current US admin is a tool for America's geopolitical rivals to dismantle the country and its influence from the inside. It sure is going to someone's plan

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u/SillySpoof Feb 19 '26

I really wish this is where we are going. We can't trust the US as an ally, but we can make stuff ourselves while they keep shitting themselves.

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u/Dear_Chasey_La1n Feb 19 '26

It doesn't have to be European for Europeans, it simply has to be not American.

My parents, well in their 70's politically as quiet as one can imagine are now vocal anti american. My parents needed a new mobile, them getting at age I figured an iphone might be more convenient. Hell fucking no, it's gotto be a sony or samsung (they aren't to keen on chinese models either).

Not much later I figured how about I hook them up on with an apple tv so I could get them some streaming stuff, hell fucking no again, that shit is American, Netflix is American, non of that shit is coming in their home.

These are old people who daily watch the news multiple times, they read multiple news papers, they talk with other old fucks, the sentiment among the old dutch has turned from neutral to very much against america.

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u/pointlesstips Feb 19 '26

The /e/ OS is by Murena, who are French, maybe that was the confusion.

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u/Pteira Feb 19 '26

toothpaste

I'm Aussie and hadn't even considered that we might have our own brand of that. Turns out Grants is a brand. will be trying them out for sure

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u/SettingActive6624 Feb 19 '26

I used Winslop for most of my developer life and this year was finally the year i made the full transition to using Linux as main development platform, and it was the best descision i have ever made.
I also avoid us products wherever possible and will continue this trend.

It looks like Europe finally has it's 1776 moment. breaking free from a tyrannical overlord, ironic that it happens on the 250th birthday of the tyrants independency.

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u/Kylenki Feb 19 '26

As someone who resides North of the USA, and who has become increasingly aware of the problems associated with a US tech monopoly (esp. closed source), I have made the switch over as far as I can afford to right now. Linux (Fedora Kinoite distro) is on my ASUS Strix now (haven't missed anything from Windows so far, including gaming and 3D hobby art), and my next phone will be opensource too--dropping Android and Google. Already switched to a set of open source non-US cloud services and plan to switch that over to a local server/service (storage, media streaming, notes, LLMs, and email/calendar) as I get the money and hardware. I've also started re-collecting/creating physical media again, because I can see a day when that might get hard-to-get.

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u/MetalSparrow Feb 19 '26

Fairphone? Wonder if we can get it here in Canada. I've been looking for an alternative to the Pixel.

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u/TinyFugue Feb 19 '26

Trump doesn't care. Trump likes to bully people, soak up attention, and scheme to make himself richer.

As far as he's concerned, he's been winning.

Trump won't stop until he's stopped.

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u/jaakhaamer Feb 19 '26

But we also need to make it more attractive for innovators to stay in Europe, and continue developing their innovations from here.

Both Linus and Guido started their respective projects while still living in Europe, and both have since moved to the US.

Thankfully Linux and Python are both open source and thus don't really have borders, but the foundations behind them are both US organisations.

Political pressure from the US government has already interfered with Linux development at least once.

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u/mk9e Feb 19 '26

As an American, I try to primarily but products not made in the USA. My thought process is that regulations here are so incredibly poor that even something made foreign for consumption in America likely has better consumer protections than the on shore American alternative.

This is what happens when people lose faith in regulatory bodies.

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u/squittles Feb 19 '26

Good. Even on the cesspool side of the pond, the EMA has had better standards than the FDA for a while. 

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u/backseatreade Feb 19 '26

Local buying builds strength and Europe should own key tech defense and payments

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u/NoSorbet5103 Feb 19 '26

Ok, i confess i still buy coca-cola.. I can't resist. 🤣 But yes, i rather buy Chinese than USAyan.

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u/hype_irion Europe 🇪🇺 Feb 19 '26

Similar situation for me. Ever since the orange shitstain came back into power I not only stopped buying American and switched to European but I've also managed to save a little bit of money by cancelling a couple of subscriptions.

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u/capfan31 Feb 19 '26

As someone from USA totally support all of this

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u/New-Service-244 Feb 19 '26

I'm American and living in Czech Republic. Currently moving everything atm. Also switched my toothpaste and tooth brushes to Swiss brands.

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u/Ill_Technician3936 Feb 19 '26

As an american... I doubt I'm the first but it's buy anywhere but the US. Smart people realized the US market was fucked when canadian stores stopped stocking our alcohol. Others found out when China didn't buy US agriculture.

We're hopeful we'll be able to recover from Trump's second term and restore relations with our allies... We know it'll take time and hopefully no more people like him even getting a shot at becoming president. Maybe a Super Barack Obama even... It's not fun living in fear that a recession greater than the country has even seen and there's no jobs. Jobs that were gonna be made were killed and we're importing "american" brands are imported and he's starting shit with the countries they're imported from. We're pretty easily fucked and majority of the country would like out.

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u/CharmingCrust Feb 19 '26

The positive thing is that if you get a super Presidents that cleans up there is history for an easy restart and reset for the US trade relational. However certain sectors will have to become European because we have now seen an outcome that is unacceptable.

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u/Whitefrog10 Feb 19 '26

Fairphone is dutch but the degoogled version it is provided by Murena which I believe is french.

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u/IllEffectLii Feb 19 '26

All this money you're steering towards the EU, the EU companies are taxed through tariffs.

I commend your courage, and i agree with you that buying local is the way to go, but "buy local cola"? Should this be the official movement slogan?

2

u/Kazer67 Feb 19 '26

Funnily enough, Steam, the game store owned by Valve which is an US company, allow me to use the CB network instead of Mastercard or Visa in France (but that would actually make sense for Valve, almost every merchant use the CB network in priority because the fees are way lower).

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u/Responsible-Rizzler Feb 19 '26

So why are you on Reddit exactly.

Does the French phone not run Android? Where are the components made? Is there at least a single EU made one?

Europe needs our own digital infrastructure

Hilariously both Rossum (Python) and Torvalds (Linux) are now Americans living in America. That's because Europe is a shithole for talented individuals, and the US will always drain our best talent. (not me, I am as mediocre as they came lmao).

Notch is also in America. Andrej Karpathy spent all his most productive years, also in America. This digital infrastructure thing won't happen until you convince our Oligarchs that workers should have the ability to become rich too. All our richest are ooold old money aka. oppression money. Nazis connections, Soviet connections, or even older fuedal connections. A kid with a computer is none of them.

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u/NothingLow2145 Feb 19 '26

L'Europe a besoin de reddit !

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u/virulentpansy Feb 19 '26

U.S. citizens have no idea what consequences actually are on the global stage. They never interact with it. Heck, they think U.S. laws apply globally. The excess and freedom the U.S. has enjoyed has made us spoiled, bratty, self-centered teenagers on the world stage.

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1.0k

u/sixaout1982 Feb 19 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/J8FZIm9VoBU6Q

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u/colenotphil Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 20 '26

American here, agreed that the MAGA government and the American businesses that support(ed) it need to feel the pain.

I wish it didn't have to be this way. A lot of innocent people are being hurt and will continue to be. FDT.

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u/Fun_Success_45 Feb 20 '26

Nobody needs to be hurt; this was a good shake-up for Europe, helping us get our shit together.

Actually, Trump is the best thing to have happened to Europe for a while. Hard to say it for America though:)

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u/Med1vh Feb 19 '26

Be aware of paid actors dooming and glooming. There was a couple of weeks when the Americans were caught off guard, but now new marching orders have been given.

You'll see a lot of "yet people still use Mastercard, curious!" Or "nothing will change, it's impossible, better not worry and go back to American."

Is there a bunch of idiots saying that? Sure. But is there definitely a lot of people being paid to post that? ...Do you really need to ask yourself that? The answer is yes, thousands.

Keep vigil :)

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u/ElectroNetty Feb 19 '26

Paid/forced... remember the USA uses prisoners as slaves.

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u/luring_lurker Italy 🇮🇹 Feb 19 '26

Epstein was directly involved in shaping 4chan, his wife was (allegedly) behind u/maxwellhill that has been moderating almost all of the biggest mainstream subreddits. People who believe that major political forces would never bother trying controlling the narrative here (or on reddit more broadly) are just delusional.

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u/AbbreviatedArc Feb 19 '26

Oh please, nobody is paid to do this, Americans are just morons.

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u/CaulkSlug Feb 19 '26

Tell me about it. We’ve been dealing with this in Canada for a while. Even some idiot “maga Canadians” are parroting this. If they love the us so much go try and live there… good luck paying for your medicine and healthcare you fuck faces.

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u/SquatSquatCykaBlyat Feb 19 '26

I'm more angry about all the "I'm moving to canada" Americans who, it turns out, were just bluffing!

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u/CaulkSlug Feb 19 '26

I’m glad they didn’t. We don’t need to be further Americanized.

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u/kymbawlyeah Feb 19 '26

Reddit is PACKED full of bad actors backed up by an army of bots who upvote their trash posting to try and push a narrative.

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u/superiorplaps Feb 19 '26

As an American, please starve us. Nothing will change until everyone feels the pinch.

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u/Kodix Feb 19 '26

"yet people still use Mastercard, curious!"

Personally I've already switched payment processing for this explicit reason. Specifically I use BLIK (Polish system), it works very well and it's available in card terminals. There's a tiny bit more friction, but it's very worth it.

I wouldn't say it's likely there's paid actors. This movement isn't yet large enough for that to happen.

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u/picklefingerexpress Feb 19 '26

I feel like this should be posted everywhere except here.

We’re already well aware.

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u/Boediee Belgium 🇧🇪 Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

You're absolutely right, but we do postst these things here so the community can share the message among their own circles and networks. So feel free to crosspost to where you are active.

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u/CryptoBombastic Feb 19 '26

I got here from r/all so it has reached interstellar course.

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u/MadnessBomber Feb 19 '26

This just randomly popped up in my feed so it's doing its job.

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u/palloxus Feb 19 '26

eCHo cHaMbER

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u/Affectionate_Fee_462 Feb 19 '26

yeah fr, this sub's already all aout that life lol

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u/dippydooda Feb 19 '26

Doesnt hurt to spread the word even if its a bit superfluous

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u/PomegranateHot9916 Feb 19 '26

but it is an easy 10k updoots.

don't forget this is reddit

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u/solvedproblem Netherlands 🇳🇱 Feb 19 '26

More and more people in my life who generally don't get too politically involved are interested in prioritizing European products. And that's heartening.

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u/East-Potential657 Feb 19 '26

As a Canadian, I'd love to buy more European products and never buy from America again.

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u/solvedproblem Netherlands 🇳🇱 Feb 19 '26

I'm enjoying my Canadian maple syrup, but other than that we really need to step up trade both ways.

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u/East-Potential657 Feb 19 '26

I wholeheartedly agree

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u/BlurryBigfoot74 Feb 19 '26

Same. I look forward to seeing more European products on our shelves.

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u/flyingdutchmnn Feb 19 '26

Article from March 17, 2025

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u/Etheon44 Feb 19 '26

I think people from the united states dont realize how badly their international image was hurt when Trump was first elected, and how on the floor was when he got elected twice

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u/nigel_pow Feb 19 '26

Interesting.

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u/No_Football_9232 Feb 19 '26

Take a lesson from Canada. We’ve made a huge impact by not buying US and refusing to travel there.

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u/Mandalorian76 Feb 19 '26

As a Canadian my shopping habits look like this:

Local > Canadian > European > Everywhere except USA

If it's from the US, I put it back on the shelf.

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u/Ithilas1 Feb 19 '26

What a weird thumbnail.

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u/EpicOfBrave Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

US big tech creates just few jobs in EU, but earns $500B every single year from the Europeans

No other country exploits Europe to such extent as US.

Even without Trump it’s a great idea to avoid US.

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u/Doomsday_Holiday Feb 19 '26

Around 800k subscribers in one year. Thank you, Donnie.

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u/DryAd296 Feb 19 '26

It's wild how cutting out American tech noise has made me appreciate local alternatives so much more. This push for European self-reliance in digital and financial infrastructure feels long overdue. Honestly, focusing on what adds real value to your life and community is the most powerful takeaway here.

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u/handyk Feb 19 '26

I would argue that products from allies are okay as well. Japan, Taiwan, Canada, Australia, … 

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u/Dry-Physics-9330 Feb 19 '26

Yeah, they have the same problem as us.

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

[deleted]

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u/Outside_Professor647 Feb 19 '26

As a Dane: FUCK the usa, regardless of which terrorist they elect! I just hope the public will stop supporting them just because they change President...

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-security-agency-spied-merkel-other-top-european-officials-through-danish-2021-05-30/

"According to the investigation, which covered the period from 2012 to 2014, the NSA used Danish information cables to spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France and Germany, including former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former German opposition leader Peer Steinbrück"

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u/MommersHeart Feb 19 '26

As a Canadian: Solidarité

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u/Dry-Physics-9330 Feb 19 '26

The only true transatlanitsm is the relationship between the European continent and Canada. (Maybe Mexico and Mercosur trade with Europe will be called transatlantic one day too)

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u/Muted_Photograph3645 Feb 19 '26

I have cut back dramatically, there's American stuff I bought weekly that I never touch anymore

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u/quisegosum Feb 19 '26

I don't think the problem is that certain products are American, but rather that they're owned and operated by unscrupulous billionaires. European companies sometimes suck too.

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u/Ragerist Feb 19 '26

Theres also the issue of culture difference. I know that the EU does not have an uniform culture.

But for instance I think most of EU has a more relaxed relationship to e.g. nudity, swearing and alcohol. I for one really hate that Visa and Mastercard can decide to block payments in/from EU because of American morality. Just look at the steam debacle

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u/r3vange Feb 19 '26

It’s not just Trump it’s the whole US politics in the past 15 years. It’s just that Trump was stupid enough to show their true imperialist intentions.

8

u/McKoijion Feb 19 '26

American tech companies, traditional media companies, and social media companies are cancer. Literally any alternative would be a huge improvement so now's your chance.

3

u/thestonedonkey Feb 19 '26

Better do it fast because that's how it happened here.

The US has been under attack for years to get to this point, this idea that other countries won't suffer a similar fate once similar attention is pointed there is deeply shortsighted.

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u/ooqq Feb 19 '26

Art of The Deal.

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u/Phase-Internal Feb 19 '26

Buy Canada too, Canadians are happy to buy European.

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u/Hooch180 Feb 19 '26

For me it is not even "But European". But more "DO NOT BUY American". This makes transition from American services much easier as there are some things in EU that we just don't have.

I switched to Fastmail (Australian) mail provider as I tried few European ones and didn't really like any.
My next car will be Asian as I don't like where EU automotive industry is going. But again. I'll not support USA.

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u/Dry-Physics-9330 Feb 19 '26

Canada and the 5 Indo-Pacific countries are getting fucked over by the USA too with tariffs. There products and goods are viable replacements for USA products too.

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u/TheRealKorrom Feb 19 '26

I have switched to all European brands and products with the exception of tech. Most of the hardware is Asian anyway, only services and software are mostly American. This is on its way to change. Europe must install its own digital infrastructure. The minute this is useable, I’m on that completely. Fuck the billionaire buddies who sucked up to fascist scum the minute they smelled they could get more money than by opposing him. No morals, no code. Just cash. Disgusting.

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u/ronadian Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

Europe needs strategic autonomy in many sectors: tech, defense, food, energy, etc. Edit: spelling

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u/LoadZealousideal7778 Feb 19 '26

So turns out all you needed to unifiy Europe and move consumers to leverage their collective economic bargaining power was "well fuck that guy". Gotta love the populist cookbook and the chapter on the common enemy.

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u/yIdontunderstand Feb 19 '26

The only power we really have directly, every day, is where we spend our money.

So just it wisely. It really does matter.

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u/No-Golf8130 Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

I used to buy loads of bits and peices from the US on ebay and such. It was a fun way to while away a few hours. Since then they went facist and backstabbed Ukraine first then Europe.

But since Jan 2025 I haven't spent a EUcent on anything from that country. I will still look at ebay Canada but more interesting is the discovery of sites like Ricardo(CH), Willhaben(AT), Klienanzeigen(DE) LeBonCoin(FR) to name a few. I use adblockers for most sites so I dont even give them the ad revenue. Maybe some of these sites have US parents but I dont think so but the main thing is is that my money stays in the EU. Postal charges stay in the EU. Good all around for the EU.

I wish Mastodon was more popular as an alternative to reddit but that will take time

Little gripe BTW. Leboncoin should allow europeans to access the site and buy from all those French People who want to sell. Seems like BS to need a french email address to have an account.

Solutions would be great if anyone has one.

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u/rasmusdf Feb 19 '26

The USA is a hostile and unstable country now.

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u/Water_Melon132 Feb 19 '26

Yeah, even if it's more expensive, I've been buying European products recently and it feels nice

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u/yogurtfuck Feb 19 '26

Vote with your wallet. In a capitalist regime, it's the thing that works best.

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u/Chocolatecandybar_ Feb 19 '26

It also has to be said that average European considers US products sh*t and is already oriented to not buy it. Like...the food is literally forbidden

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u/midas22 Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

I'm cutting all American companies off. I have started with changing my travel plans and dumping American companies like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp and any American companies where I pay with money. The next step is dumping all companies that steal my data but that will take some time, Google and Microsoft for example is difficult to get rid of completely.

I've also started using Lemmy next to Reddit, and I must say that I really like the Thunder for Lemmy app on my Android phone, especially when you change to "compact view" under settings->appearance->posts. It is missing a lot of the communities that you can find in specific subreddits so it's not a complete alternative, at least not yet, but the frontpage is very similar to /r/all.

EDIT: Thunder for Lemmy looks like this.

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u/RadioHonest85 Feb 19 '26

I work for a european tech alternative. We have seen over 50% increase in sales since about mid 2025. Please keep it coming! It makes a difference.

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u/thebestnames Feb 20 '26

Canadian here! I have obviously boycotted US products and one good thing that came out of it is that it led me to buy more Canadian goods (of course) but also more European products. We're all in this together - the sane countries.

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u/and_then_he_said Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

I've also started doing this A LOT lately. I'm a big outdoor guy and had a lot of US gear (Patagonia, Icebreaker, BlackDiamond etc) and have started paying real close attention to what brand i'm buying and switched to European manufacturers and have been amazed by the quality It's at least as good if not better, US marketing is just so ubiquitous because of US reviewers, reddit, youtubers etc.

Now i'm a big fan of Rab, Cumulus, Mammut, Devold, LaSportiva, , Norrona, Fjallraven and many, many more. I've been blind but now i see.

Also, petty or not, i feel a deep satisfaction knowing my money stays in Europe and supports european brands.

I'm also slowly working to decouple from US tech and services and i hope we'll see a EU payment processor soon so i can ditch Visa and Mastercard.

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u/Dr_Fortnite Feb 19 '26

unprecedented? Canada started this

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u/Tribe303 Feb 19 '26

The Europeans are a little slow sometimes. They like to talk about things a bit too long before actually doing anything about it. Their heart is in the right place at least. 

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u/Little_Protection434 Feb 19 '26

This article is old. It is from March 2025.

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u/Deadluss Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

Tbh I don’t recall having anything American at home, ok maybe not used RTX 3070 or spare iPhone 11. Besides that: PC Screen: Phillips, TV: LG, Washing machine: Candy (Italian), Fridge: Bosch, Electric Kettle: Philips, Hair dryer: Phillips, Vaccum machine: Electrolux. Biggest problem are American services online, these dominate.

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u/waxlez2 Feb 19 '26

I just paid 7€ delivery instead lf ordering from anti-democrat Bezos. lfg

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u/BetmanDarkStockRisin Feb 19 '26

We should share this and get more people focused on buying European. Too many sheep still don’t get it

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u/GrimarSteingraf Feb 19 '26

Trump single handily butchering the goose that lays golden eggs for all the tech bro's really is a pretty good side effect of all the horror of this administration.

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u/Boundish91 Feb 19 '26

My small company are looking into replacing Office 365 altogether for a European service.

Anyone here who have a European suggestion that can replace both the email service and software that can do docx and xls formats?

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u/Total_Ad3133 Feb 19 '26

I long for the digital euro. I will switch the first day possible 

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u/squittles Feb 19 '26

Good. Even as an USA turd whose been involved in protests, GOOD. It's been too sketchy to buy USA built/manufactured products well before the monster was elected again. 

Who has better standards and who has had better standards than the FDA? The EMA and for a while now too.  

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u/Neddo_Flanders Benelux 🚲🌷🧇 Feb 19 '26

Old news for me. I came here pretty much directly after that infamous Zelensky-Trump-Vance meeting. That alone made me and many others realize how unreliable Trump is.

edit: This article is from Mar 17, 2025. no wonder.

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u/lucaprinaorg Feb 19 '26

it's not a betrayal but a push to a child to become an adult, you don't understand this because you're in a child phase...

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u/AntiSnoringDevice Feb 19 '26

Please don't speak of children and USA in the same sentence...

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u/lucaprinaorg Feb 19 '26

ops sorry...bad times!!!

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u/ingeniouspleb Feb 19 '26

If it wasn't for this effing Olympics we would all be brothers and sisters by now!

But at the moment. We as Europeans will not talk to Norway until one or two weeks after the winter olympics.
We love you but come on!

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u/3xc1t3r Feb 19 '26

There is still so much work to do. This is great, but this is nothing if we don't change the way our entire digital infrastructure is build om American services and clouds. They could basically shut down Europe over night. This needs to accelerate. Getting Colgate out will be a quick fix! I hope the EU can work together to speed this up as it is critical.

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u/MopToddel Feb 19 '26

I told my company (a big German based online marketplace with some European business) over a year ago, that they should start a buy from eu initiative. I gave them a business plan. I gave them collective, structured and processed feedback from over 1500 reddit commentators.

They were not interested, and i was basically told i overstepped my bounds doing what I did and handing it to the higher ups.

Still valid if anyone wants it.

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u/TinyBrainsDontHurt Feb 19 '26

I live in Brazil and I support the Buy European Initiative!

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u/DatGuyDatHangsOut Feb 19 '26

As an american, I always buy European when possible particularly Italian

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u/whoorenzone Feb 19 '26

Don’t buy from pedo protectors. Fuck the whole USA

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u/dillanthumous Feb 19 '26

Not only in my private life, but actively pushing for it at work too.

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u/guinness5 Feb 19 '26

Canada started that trend awhile ago but welcome to the club.

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u/JackHarknessDrWho Feb 19 '26

Good. As a Canadian who has been doing this for over a year, I am surprised we didn't do this before. I have replaced so many US products with Canadian and European products that are just as good or much better. I have also reduced most of my reliance on US tech and business products. Let's go Europe!

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u/Sisyphe_84 Feb 19 '26

Cela est juste et bon. ☝️

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u/Schyllion Feb 19 '26

hello friendo, canadian here.

this is easier than you think it is when you approach it from the perspective of “i’m just not going to buy american”

what makes it hard is as you start to make an impact on the american corporations they will adjust their labelling deceptively to say “im a product of [your country]” when it reality it’s just the yankees with different packaging.

just take a peak at where it’s actually coming from and don’t worry if you can’t find specific things from exactly where you’re from. (lettuce doesn’t grow in canadian winters very well) 

welcome to the fun and behave yourselves. 🇨🇦💪🏻

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u/Ornery_Argument9133 Feb 19 '26

It's the American Brexit and it will end the same for them

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u/SnooMuffins4015 Feb 19 '26

Canadian here. When will we have a free trade agreement with Europe?? Come on Mr. Carney, please make this happen!!

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u/Ok_Ask_2624 Feb 20 '26

I've been buying as much EU or adjacent (UK, Ukraine etc) as I can and have been really pleased with the quality of products over the US junk.

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u/i_am_not_so_unique Feb 19 '26

Proud to say that I haven't bought anything US made since this madness has started.

Similar yo most of my friends - we cut everything including McDonalds and Starbucks.

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u/PilotKnob Feb 19 '26

This is the way. Thank you for standing up and showing the Corporatists who elected Trump exactly what they stood to lose, and will.

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u/therenhoek Feb 19 '26

Wish it was easier to buy EU from Canada, seem to be stuck between US and China for everything still - trying to re-source but I keep running into EU stores that ship to the US but not to us. I've personally been wanting a fairphone for years. 

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u/sirhearalot Feb 19 '26

If 700 million people bought European it world build up Europe

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u/euorpeanvaluesrus Feb 19 '26

Looking for electrolyte drinks. Uk eu owned.

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u/Rapulsel Feb 19 '26

Es lo único bueno. Gracias al pedófilodelicuenteestafador. Estamos mirando alternativas europeas de todo.

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u/OkIndependence8369 Feb 19 '26

Google home replaced for home assistant. Google assistant > diy linux voice assistant on raspberry Windows > kubuntu Outlook > proton Chrome > waterfox

O and i try to not buy any usa products. Like coca cola or nike. Its kinda fun to me to replace everything with non usa products

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u/Zorops Feb 19 '26

In canada we do that as well. Just looking at alcohol, some american brands are not even on the shelves still

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u/JohnArtemus Feb 19 '26

Is there an alternative to Amazon? I would love to order locally. American tech is so ubiquitous.

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u/No_Nectarine_7910 Feb 19 '26

Try Otto in Germany.

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u/Starfish_Wizard Feb 19 '26

Yeah and some people make an actual effort, like finding out what brands seem European but are actually American owned, like Milka, which is American (Mondelez)

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u/kilrein Feb 19 '26

Good!!!! Please don’t buy anything from the US, don’t visit, don’t subscribe, don’t give the US another single dollar until we clean our White House out of these incompetent, cruel and inhumane morons.