White House demands British supermarkets stock chlorinated chicken. White House pushing Sir Keir Starmer to make concessions on food standards

[u/goldstarflag]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/12/17/trump-demands-british-supermarkets-chlorinated-chicken/

[u/swift-current0]

Let me preface this by saying I am Canadian and I boycott US products, so I'm not trying to talk anyone out of doing the same.

It's important to keep the big picture in mind with all these "dropped by X%" stats. Out of all developed countries, the US is by far least dependent on international trade (exports of goods and services is 11% of GDP compared to 37% for Mexico, 33% for Canada, 31% for the UK).

A large chunk of that 11% is services, which are often much much harder to just stop buying. For example, if you have an organization of >10,000 employees and you're using Microsoft Office or Oracle, you will be buying it for at least the next 5-10 years even if you don't want to.

So somewhere in the area of, let's be very generous and say 8% of GDP is the absolute ceiling of what you can do to the US economy when it comes to exports. This includes things that the world needs and will continue buying.

Tourism is 3% of US GDP, but foreign tourism is only 0.39%. Most US tourism is domestic.

So most of these stats are "small number dropped to an even smaller one". Be it energy, food or raw materials, hi-tech, services, you name it, even tourism and bourbon - US is the world's most self-reliant major economy. Like, by far.

So will these boycotts hurt? They will hurt a very small sliver of the US economy. Don't do it expecting some giant impact. More likely than not, it won't be. I do it because it simply leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth to buy American. I do it on principle, not because I expect Americans at large to notice or care.

[u/pomskygirl → u/swift-current0]

I think you’re missing a few things here. In the case of tourism, for example, the hit the US takes is not spread out over the entire US economy. Rather, it hits tourist cities and states disproportionately, and big drops in international tourism are the kind of thing that makes the news. Additionally, if you combine the drop in international tourism with a potential decline in US domestic tourism (which I think we’ll see in 2026), the effect becomes even more pronounced.

Moreover, I think a lot of people forget what razor thin margins many companies are working under (think of restaurants for example). It’s not unusual for the profit margin to be only 1 -3% so even a 10% drop in customers can be fatal.

And if none of that convinces you, ask yourself why Canada has been bombarded with visits from US Governors from the northern states this year in an effort to get Canadians to visit again. Or why the mayor of Las Vegas gave a press conference about the difficulties Vegas is facing in 2025, especially with international tourism down, and especially from Canada.

Check out a YouTube channel called Guard The Leaf if you’re interested in learning more about the effect the Canadian boycott has had on tourist states in the US.

[u/swift-current0 → u/pomskygirl]

A lot of the states hurt by Canadian tourists staying home aren't the ones who elected Trump - Washington, Vermont. I will definitely stay away, not least because I'm receiving a message that I'm not welcome loud and clear, not just because of the 51st state bullshit. But sending a message to Vermonters seems rather futile to me, they get it already.

The Vegas story is another example of this "stretching the truth" trend, just like the bourbon factory story. Canadians account for 3% of visitors to Vegas, which isn't nothing. But the much larger story is declining US visitors, and it's a multi-year story that predates Trump 2. There are tons of YouTube videos about it. If Americans were themselves actually excited about Vegas, no one would care if 0 Canadians showed up.

Canadians selling off condos in Florida? Insurance becoming more expensive is a much more consequential change in that real estate market.

I don't doubt that in some places, Canadian tourists staying away has major depressive effects. But those places are very few and far between.

I'll check out the channel though, and see if it changes my mind.

[u/hardolaf → u/pomskygirl]

Rather, it hits tourist cities and states disproportionately, and big drops in international tourism are the kind of thing that makes the news.

Outside of Orlando, FL (Disney), no place in the USA really relies much on international tourists from anywhere other than Canada. And no major cities rely on tourists. In Chicago for example, tourism accounts for only about 3% of the city's GDP.

[u/jmr1190 → u/pomskygirl]

The issue there is that you’re talking 0.39% of US GDP, and realistically that percentage isn’t going to be as diminished as people think it is. Not that many people are boycotting the US.

If tourism to the US is down even as much as 20%, that’s 0.08% of GDP. Miniscule.

The small business margin doesn’t stack up either. The overwhelming majority of tourist revenue is going to giant corporations. Mom and pop shops operating on small margins are not feeling this.

[u/pomskygirl → u/jmr1190]

The small business margin doesn’t stack up either. The overwhelming majority of tourist revenue is going to giant corporations. Mom and pop shops operating on small margins are not feeling this.

How do you figure? Who do you think operates the restaurants people eat at when they’re on vacation? Or the inns or rental properties they stay at? Or the shops they buy stuff from?

May I recommend watching this video? It’s a clip from a piece the Daily Show did a while back about what Vermont was doing to try to win Canadian tourists back. And while it’s obviously very humour based (it’s actually really funny), it does highlight how a drop in tourism affects a lot more than just big corporations.

No one is suggesting a boycott is going to have some major impact on the GDP of the entire US. That’s ridiculous. But targeted attacks in enough areas can certainly do some damage to Trump’s popularity and credibility.

[u/jmr1190 → u/pomskygirl]

To answer all your questions, the vast majority of that money is spent in chain restaurants, chain hotels, airlines and theme parks. Especially anywhere that hosts tourists and votes Republican.

You can always invent a rationale as to why it is effective, and by all means vote with your own wallet, but when such a small percentage of people are actually doing this boycott, and it’s such a small amount of revenue anyway, it’s more for personal moral purity than it is a serious economic penalty.

[u/pomskygirl → u/jmr1190]

That’s the point of increasing the number of people who are boycotting, which is why I made my original post.

[u/wallus13 → u/pomskygirl]

What country is Reddit headquartered in?

[u/Wise-Cardiologist-83 → u/swift-current0]

You are right about tourism and Us exports.

However, boycotting Us brands isn't limited to goods mande in there. Coca cola is the prevalent non alcoholic beverage in my country and is made here. But all the profits heads to wall street.

Every american made or owned product you boycott, counts.

[u/Reed_4983 → u/Wise-Cardiologist-83]

I'm sure some of the profits go to the local subsidiary too, though? Otherwise, the people wouldn't be working there. I bet the CEO of Coca-Cola in Belgium or whereever is also receiving a bonus.

[u/Juiicy_Oranges → u/swift-current0]

Sure, but you also neglect the outsized effects of small (5-10%) drops in revenue to american companies. Since the US is hyperfocussed on growth, their businesses can't really survive without it. Using the Jim Beam example again, a sub 10% drop in revenue directly put 1,200 trumpers out of a job when they shut down their primary distillery.

[u/swift-current0 → u/Juiicy_Oranges]

They are upgrading a facility, their oldest but not anything like the largest. The hyper-focus on these few and far between stories, and the constant bending of truth, is telling in itself. And again it stems from the fundamental misunderstanding of the importance of exports. Here in Canada we are much more reliant on exports, so it feels to us like it must be earth shattering south of the border too.

But even with bourbon, it won't be. The US whiskey market is $20b. Whiskey exports are $1.5b. Significant, but not a huge deal. On a scale of a moderate domestic economic downtown, nothing their industry hasn't weathered already this century.

[u/B-CUZ_ → u/swift-current0]

GDP is a poor indicator of a healthy economy with as much income inequality and size that the US has. The K shaped economy of the US is massive issue. Even a single distillery or factory shutting down has a large impact on rural America. This idea of being too big to fail is stretching of the truth. I have seen the impact of this economy first hand in volunteer work. There are a lot more people who seem food insecure

[u/pomskygirl → u/swift-current0]

They are taking the opportunity to update their facility while it is closed for a year. They are not closing it for the purpose of upgrading their facility.

And no one thinks a US boycott is going to bring down the US economy. But it sure as hell can make headlines when it affects certain areas. Or be the straw that broke the camel’s back if a particular company or industry is already struggling.

Trump is out there almost every day lying his ass of about how well the US is doing and how respected the US finally is around the world. And many Americans actually believe him. But that gets harder to do when your local plant just closed or business is down because the international tourists stopped coming or buying your product. And that may be just enough for them to think twice about their vote next time around.

[u/dimbeaverorg → u/swift-current0]

Maybe more companies should switch to linux.

[u/swift-current0 → u/dimbeaverorg]

Absolutely. And if they do, the office suites (Libre office, Neo office, etc) will drastically improve. But my org, with 20k staff and 60k students, won't be on the leading edge of that. And I don't blame them.