Boycotting US stuff

i kne albert davy said:
Strange way to view finances when you buy Chinese goods the money or a proportion of it leaves the country, how do you replace that money ? You don’t feel it’s better to have to have a trade surplus so you can invest in your country ?
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Obviously, not every country can be in surplus with every other. Think about why trade happens at all.

Which of suddenly stopping all trade with the EU (807bn of trade) or the US (302bn) would have the bigger impact on our economy?

If trading with countries we're in deficit with didn't bring a benefit, the companies doing it would stop.

Figures from

List of the largest trading partners of the United Kingdom - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Britain has always been a trading nation, which bring wealth whether exporting Wallace and Gromit films to the world, or importing iPhones from China. Trade doesn't stop being a benefit with a country because we're in a trade deficit.
 
Brewster's millions said:
You’re denying that Silver Lake has a share in the CFG and a crucial role in the group’s infrastructure projects and future revenue streams? Like I said, keep up the good work.
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Let's keep it simple for you - the owner of MCFC is not Silverlake Capital, it is City Football Group which is 81% majority owned by ADUG. Got that yet?
 
We've got Guardiola said:
Unfortunately this isn't going to happen because Europe doesn't have any answers to the things that we want.

If you want a European phone which did you pick? If you want a European social media company which do you use? What about a European AI such as ChatGPT? Who is the European Amazon? Millions eat or drink at places like Mcdonalds or Starbucks everyday but what is the European equivalent?

The only dominant European industry in our lives is perhaps the supermarkets (Aldi+Lidl) and the car industry but the latter is slowly being destroyed by China.

Europe is an important goods market to us but in totality and in terms of growth it is slowly becoming less relevant. Much of the growth that we have seen has come from increases in non-EU/US services so if we cut that off we're just cutting off our own legs.
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I did say 'where you can' and can only hope you are wrong and the rabid US consumer theatre will see its customers seek alternative entertainment via new UK/European offerings - we need to wake up and start competing or we are lost.
 
I recogniz(s)e it’s kinda hard not to be rattled by what’s happening over here — I certainly am — but if you want to do some good, get involved on an unpaid basis supporting anti-MAGA politicians. You can’t legally contribute money to campaigns as non-citizens, but you can become involved in get-out-the-vote campaigns with letters, posts, etc. I think most all of us would like to go back to a strong, positive, non-partisan relationship between the U.S. and U.K. and that can happen if we effect a change in leadership of both the Presidency and Congress. Perhaps this sounds naive and it might be. But it’s the single best option for the well-being of the relationship we’ve long shared.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
I recogniz(s)e it’s kinda hard not to be rattled by what’s happening over here — I certainly am — but if you want to do some good, get involved on an unpaid basis supporting anti-MAGA politicians. You can’t legally contribute money to campaigns as non-citizens, but you can become involved in get-out-the-vote campaigns with letters, posts, etc. I think most all of us would like to go back to a strong, positive, non-partisan relationship between the U.S. and U.K. and that can happen if we effect a change in leadership of both the Presidency and Congress. Perhaps this sounds naive and it might be. But it’s the single best option for the well-being of the relationship we’ve long shared.
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It’s a rocky relationship currently but in the long term both UK and USA need the alliance to endure. Post Trump there will need to be work done to get back on the right road.
The USA has huge economic interests in Europe as well as strategic/defence needs. Talk of closing US bases over here is nonsense. When Obama turned away from Europe Russia was much emboldened.
 
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As has been mentioned City are partially owned by an American PE firm. More generally the people who fund top-level football have been a pretty dubious bunch for as long as I can remember. You might recall we were owned by a fugitive from Thai justice for a period and some human rights orgs don't like Abu Dhabi.

As far as cutting ties goes, it's been tried. The usual pub historians were bleating about America entering the world wars late in the Trump thread. Well, that's what happens when ties are strained and there's no military alliance between the UK and US, as at the start of the world wars. Who did that benefit other than the UK's enemies? I think Brexit amply illustrates the downsides of cutting economic ties.

Trump is a recent nadir but relations were pretty good this time last year. Bear up.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
I recogniz(s)e it’s kinda hard not to be rattled by what’s happening over here — I certainly am — but if you want to do some good, get involved on an unpaid basis supporting anti-MAGA politicians. You can’t legally contribute money to campaigns as non-citizens, but you can become involved in get-out-the-vote campaigns with letters, posts, etc. I think most all of us would like to go back to a strong, positive, non-partisan relationship between the U.S. and U.K. and that can happen if we effect a change in leadership of both the Presidency and Congress. Perhaps this sounds naive and it might be. But it’s the single best option for the well-being of the relationship we’ve long shared.
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it is certainly naive to think that once shitgibbon is 6 feet under (preferably capped in lead lined concrete with wiccan warding runes etched in a copper circle around him, just to be sure) everything will go back to what it used to be.

America has shown itself to be untrustworthy, so must work to rebuild that trust. Make no mistake about it, that is on America and is not a two way street. I'm not convinced that the will will be there to consume the humble pie necessary to achieve this, and so we must all prepare to settle into a post-shitgibbon new world order where there are 4 super powers, USA, China, Russia and, eventually, the EU.

This gives the UK a big problem, and shows Brexit up for the unbelievably short sighted move it was. Do we rejoin the EU? Do we effectively bend over to America in the hope of a "strong, positive, non-partisan relationship between the U.S. and U.K." or do we attempt to go it alone as the supporters of Brexit appeared to want us to do?

Whilst the removal of shitgibbon and his cult, and the return to sanity of the USA can only be a good thing, it will only be the start of a long road to a new normal, and thats as scary in its own way as the shitgibbon saga, because we believe (don't we?) that this is only a blip. The bigger question is what will that new normal be.
 
WT86 said:
As has been mentioned City are partially owned by an American PE firm. More generally the people who fund top-level football have been a pretty dubious bunch for as long as I can remember. You might recall we were owned by a fugitive from Thai justice for a period and some human rights orgs don't like Abu Dhabi.

As far as cutting ties goes, it's been tried. The usual pub historians were bleating about America entering the world wars late in the Trump thread. Well, that's what happens when ties are strained and there's no military alliance between the UK and US, as at the start of the world wars. Who did that benefit other than the UK's enemies? I think Brexit amply illustrates the downsides of cutting economic ties.

Trump is a recent nadir but relations were pretty good this time last year. Bear up.
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Pub historian or not, its indisputable that America entered both world wars late, I'm not sure why you're still flogging that horse.

Up to the advent of the shitgibbon I would have agreed with the rest of your post, but can you honestly say that should a European country trigger article 5 whilst he is in power that the USA will ride to the rescue? I sincerely doubt that. In which case, talk of military alliance between the EU/UK and USA becomes irrelevant
 
flook said:
Pub historian or not, its indisputable that America entered both world wars late, I'm not sure why you're still flogging that horse.

Up to the advent of the shitgibbon I would have agreed with the rest of your post, but can you honestly say that should a European country trigger article 5 whilst he is in power that the USA will ride to the rescue? I sincerely doubt that. In which case, talk of military alliance between the EU/UK and USA becomes irrelevant
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Maybe, but there was no alliance and it takes time to mobilize and build the political will to send your kids to die on the other side of the ocean.

You see the same dynamic with Ukraine now. There's a perfectly clear moral and military case for entering that war, but the European powers aren't there yet, let alone the US. If the UK did enter the war and lose tens of thousands of troops bringing it to a conclusion, I think most Brits would raise an eyebrow if the Ukrainian response was "where were you in 2023."

I don't trust Trump to honor Article 5, but keeping it in place keeps him under more pressure than he otherwise would be, and once NATO is dissolved it will be hard to unring that bell.
 
WT86 said:
I don't trust Trump to honor Article 5, but keeping it in place keeps him under more pressure than he otherwise would be, and once NATO is dissolved it will be hard to unring that bell.
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I don't think there is any European will/wish to see NATO dissolved or even weakened, other than perhaps from far right groups. The concern on this side of the Atlantic, other than shitgibbons lack of reliability, is America withdrawing from NATO, rendering Trumps position moot.
 
You want to do something about it personally? Take a leaf out of the Canadian book. Don't buy American. These are hoes pay little tax. So boycott Starbucks, Amazon, Jim Beam etc. You won't but that's how to do it.
 
Colin Bell (genuine name) said:
Pretty sure Silverlake is a US private equity fund, are you suggesting we support some other team.

What about only buy goods not made in the USA and support any team you want.

I quite like watching Netflix as well.

I’m conflicted already.
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Really? I've just cancelled mine for the second time, because there's fuck all on it.

Ultimately, it's really difficult to boycott anything these days, because anything vaguely complicated has a hundred different companies involved and any publicly traded company will have countless shareholders from all around the world.

But let's be honest, there's nothing wrong with being local with your purchasing decisions. Personally, in an ideal world, this would be my order of priority:

1. Made in my town
2. Made in the North West
3. Made in the UK
4. Made in Europe
5. Made in a friendly country
6. Made in a country that isn't actively hostile to us

In reality though, I'm not going to spend way more on something just because it's built or owned in the UK. But if you can afford it, why wouldn't you buy a Dyson or a Henry rather than a Hoover or a Panasonic? Why wouldn't you wash your hair with Unilever shampoo rather than Procter and Gamble? If nothing else, the average person's pension fund is far more likely to be invested in the UK companies, so it's in their interest to support them over their American rivals.
 
Brewster's millions said:
Yes it is an important trading partner. The largest single trading partner, in fact.
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But only because 52% were stupid enough to break ranks with the biggest trading bloc ( I know you wouldn't have voted for it because BKB).

UK exports to just Germany, Netherlands and France were 150% higher than to the US in 2024 despite Brexit. I wonder what that gap would be had we not had the Brexit debacle.
 
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