Levi’s, the iconic American denim brand, is facing a new challenge in the United Kingdom and beyond: a wave of anti-American sentiment, fueled by the trade policies and tariffs introduced under former President Donald Trump. The company’s latest filings and strategic reports, released on September 3, 2025, lay bare its concerns that British shoppers—long loyal to Levi’s—may soon turn away in favor of domestic or European alternatives. It’s a warning that speaks to a broader anxiety among U.S. brands operating overseas, as political decisions in Washington ripple through global markets in unexpected ways.
According to accounts filed with Companies House and reported by The Guardian and The Independent, Levi’s UK arm saw an 8.8% rise in sales, reaching £96.8 million (about $126 million), and a 23% jump in pre-tax profits to £9.6 million ($12.5 million) for the year ending November 30, 2024. Despite these robust results, the company’s leadership is sounding the alarm. In its strategic report, Levi’s explicitly identified “rising anti-Americanism as a consequence of the Trump tariffs and governmental policies” as a key risk to its business, warning that this could lead to “consumer preferences possibly shifting away from U.S. products and brands [and] increasing the willingness to substitute and buy national/European products.”
What’s behind this shift? Levi’s points to a “tense consumer climate” and declining customer frequency in the retail sector. While the brand has so far “retained its attractiveness,” store traffic was described as “flattish overall or even in decline.” The company employs just over 1,600 people in the UK, but that number is down from 1,857 the previous year—a reduction of more than 200 jobs, which Levi’s attributes to rising minimum wages putting pressure on profits.
Levi’s is not alone in its unease. The Trump administration’s aggressive trade policies—especially the so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs—have sparked a global backlash. On April 2, 2025, Trump announced a baseline 10% duty on nearly all U.S. trading partners, with even steeper “reciprocal” tariffs on countries accused of treating the U.S. unfairly. Although these tariffs were suspended just a week later after global stock markets recoiled, a revised version was introduced in August, only to be ruled illegal by the U.S. Court of Appeals in September. Yet, as The Independent notes, the mere announcement and rhetoric surrounding these policies were enough to stoke anti-American sentiment in key markets.
In Canada, the fallout has been swift and visible. Jack Daniel’s whiskey, another American staple, has been pulled from shelves by several retailers, and Canadian consumers have turned to apps like Maple Scan to identify and avoid U.S.-made goods. Leanne Cunningham, CFO for Brown-Forman (Jack Daniel’s parent company), reported a staggering 62% decline in Canadian sales during an August earnings call, stating, “American spirits products have been off the shelf in Canada for months. This had a significant impact on our first quarter of fiscal 2026, which will impact our full fiscal year results.”
India, too, has seen a surge in calls to boycott American brands after Trump imposed a hefty 50% tariff on Indian exports in retaliation for the country’s continued purchase of Russian oil. Some of the U.S.’s most recognizable names—Apple, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Amazon—have faced public backlash, with local business leaders urging consumers to “make buying locally a global obsession.” Manish Chowdhary, co-founder of India’s Wow Skin Science, captured the mood in a widely shared video: “We have lined up for products from thousands of miles away. We have proudly spent on brands that we don’t own, while our own makers fight for attention in their own country.”
The impact isn’t limited to food and fashion. Tesla, the electric car giant, saw its UK sales more than halve in July 2025, with market share plummeting from 1.67% to just 0.7% year-over-year. The company registered only 987 vehicles in July, compared to 2,642 the previous July—a 60% drop, according to the UK’s main industry body. Similar declines have been reported in other European markets, as consumers react to Elon Musk’s vocal support for Trump and his brief stint as a White House adviser.
For Levi’s, the risks go beyond shifting consumer preferences. The company’s filings highlight additional challenges: rising competition from retailer own-label products, pressure on department store stockists due to “increased online competition and inflexible rents,” and the broader impact of high inflation, which can erode the willingness and ability of consumers to spend on apparel and fashion products. Geopolitical tensions, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine, have also disrupted supply chains, forcing companies to reroute shipments and absorb higher costs and delays. While Levi’s has managed to mitigate these operational risks so far, the specter of political backlash remains a wild card.
Despite all this, Levi’s global performance has remained strong. The company ended the first half of fiscal 2025 with worldwide sales up 4.7% over 2024, reaching $2.97 billion. Net income soared to $202 million, a dramatic leap from $7.3 million in the same period last year. Gross profit rose 8.8% to $1.85 billion, and operating profit climbed to $299.6 million from just $21.5 million the previous year. By region, the Americas led the way with a 5.8% sales increase ($1.53 billion), followed by Europe at 3.4% ($803.6 million) and Asia at 3.1% ($565.8 million).
Yet, as Levi’s cautions, these numbers may not tell the whole story. The company’s warning about anti-Americanism is, for now, a forward-looking risk assessment—an attempt to anticipate a possible future shift in consumer behavior rather than report on a current trend. But with evidence mounting from Canada, India, and the UK that shoppers are willing to act on their discontent with U.S. policies, the threat is hardly hypothetical. As the world grows more interconnected—and as political decisions in one country can spark consumer movements in another—brands like Levi’s will need to navigate not just the fashion trends of the moment, but the shifting tides of global sentiment.
For now, Levi’s remains a beloved name in denim, but it’s clear that the fabric of international commerce is being pulled in new directions. Whether the company—and its peers—can stitch together a strategy to weather this storm remains to be seen.
