What American Exports and Products Are Respected in Europe

27 comments

1. Movies, tv/streaming shows, music. All kinds of pop cultural exports, really. Not so sure about physical goods. Maybe iPhones/Apple products, afaik they advertise with “designed in California” or something along those lines.

2. Tech is the only thing I can think of.
   A lot of people I talk with are getting tired of Hollywood movies and will jump on nordic productions instead.

   I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything being advertised with being made in america. American cars are generally seen as poor quality ans/or cheap. Ford for example to me is an unreliable Kia.

   The music industry is still big though, but again Nordic productions, especially swedish, are slowly taking over that sector.

3. I honestly can’t think of any, where a product being American is a sales point or a supposed mark of quality (perhaps with an exception for arms exports, I suppose).

   Most people don’t look to country of origin as a sign of quality in general. If they care, odds are it’s more on moral grounds, such as not wanting to buy Russian stuff or wanting to buy local to reduce co2 footprint.

   There are very few things, where being from a certain place is even mentioned beyond legal requirements. Belgian chocolate is an obvious one. Some food claims to be true to some old recipes from X country, therefore it must be good, etc. But Volkswagen isn’t screaming in people’s faces that their cars are better than their competitors’, because they are German or something

4. i think maybe pop culture wise sure. be it tv, music or gaming wise american products have a broad appeal although i cant point to any singular product to which i would instantly say i must get an american made version of it. its not to say that id avoid american made goods either its just that i cant think of anything uniquely American that i as a british person couldnt already find here in the uk tbf

5. I’m going to say no. Apple products are popular, but they’re manufactured in China. Lots of people like them, lots don’t, but no one is gushing over the fact that it’s an US American brand. In general, there’s not a lot of American goods being imported. Take cars, for example: Most popular brand in Austria is Volkswagen with over a million vehicles, followed by Audi, BMW, Skoda and Mercedes. Ford is sixth place with about 295.800 vehicles. Food? Nope, American goods aren’t even available in regular grocery stores for the most part.

6. Can you name some examples of American exports?

   I can also only think of US American culture/artistic creations. I’d say that’s mostly well-respected. You do have some people who only watch arthouse cinema and smoke pipes while being condescending at you, but overall most people recognise that their local media market has neither the idea base nor the budget to pull out so many successes non-stop for decades.

7. Not really, because most goods are made in China.

   Apple has a huge market share in the UK, and is very respected. But all of their products are made in China or India, so you couldn’t class them as an American export.

8. Music, Movies, shows, stand up and podcasts.
   I was raised on American tv and music, and it still is the origin of the majority of content I consume.
   As for products I don’t look for specific countries.

9. I’m not sure a “Made in America” tag would ever denote high quality. There’s still a feeling that American products might be powerful, but probably not efficient or long lasting.

   But don’t feel bad, atleast you’re not british:

   https://i.imgur.com/15cEwVQ.jpeg

10. i heard from my parents that in the past american jeans were considered a high quality product, as they werent sold in poland, so when they got rare chance to go to another country like Turkey which had access to such products, they would buy a lot to sell back home (and keep a pair for themselves)

    but that was back during the times of the iron curtain, nobody thinks this way now

11. Except for one of my cars nothing is made in the USA afaik. And the only reason why the car is made there, is because it was one of the few electric cars with a good range.. not because the quality is great, because it isn’t..

    I really can’t think of buying ‘something American’ because it’s good.. it’s more because it’s bad (McDonald’s, Burger King)

12. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen something “Made in the USA”, but I know a couple of brands that I think are noteworthy and, for better or for worse, are known to be American: Apple, Dell, Intel, Levi’s, Nike, Timberland, Bicycle Playing Cards, DeWalt, Stanley, Leatherman, Ford, Harley-Davidson, Jack Daniel’s, Marlboro, Coca-Cola.

13. I’d say some American goods have a rugged and tough image because of the wilderness in the Rockies. There are a lot of outdoor brands from America. They use pictures of American wilderness for ads, sometimes it’s already in their brand name, like North Face, Columbia. Also small useful tools are well regarded. From the top of my head, I think Leatherman and Zippo are still produced entirely in America.

14. “Made in USA” products here are very rare – even brands that sell made in USA products don’t really sell their made in US stuff here (New Balance for example, you can’t get MiUSA shoes here)

    I don’t think the “made in USA” sticker is attractive enough for European consumers to justify the cost for companies to sell those products here. For that cost you could have the products manufactured in Italy or the UK or something and save on shipping costs.

    One American niche I can think of would be classic workwear (Carhartt, Levi’s, Red Wings Boots, etc.), and then of course brands like Apple and Nike. But for the most part those are just American brands not “made in USA”.

15. I honestly haven’t seen many products in my life that had “Made in USA” written on them. I don’t think there is much of a market for physical U.S. products here, at least for the lower-middle price ranges: probably the cost of exporting U.S.->EU is too disadvantageous compared to EU->EU. Do you often find products made in various EU countries in the store? Much of the electronics made by American companies then have “made in China” or Southeast Asia written on them. But if we want to count it as American products, Apple’s are very popular and appreciated, as well as being a status symbol.

    Separate chapter on cars. There is a good market for American cars, at least here in Italy. In 2023 Jeep Renegade and Ford Puma were the 7th and 9th best selling cars in Italy. In addition, the electric market is still dominated by Tesla. I personally am the happy owner of a Ford 🙂

    For clothing, I am ignorant and would not know which brands are American and which are not. Maybe I’m wearing U.S. clothes now and I don’t know! I think so many U.S. brands, in various industries, are so common and usual that they are not even identified as American anymore.

    Now that I think about it at the supermarket I occasionally find U.S. products: especially peanut butter, which is sometimes explicitly advertised as American with stars and stripes flag and so on, and dried fruits like California nuts.

    Discourse aside media products: for music, cartoons, movies, comics, and novels the United States is seen as a reference point.

16. I don’t know if this would count as export and I’m aware that we Europeans are sometimes taking a high ground when it comes to food and healthy eating, but count me in when it comes to southern food and BBQ (in moderate amounts).

17. F-16

    F-18

    F-35

    Generally tech products, software mainly. Microsoft office, windows, apple and google related things (don’t know if their hardware falls under that category) are what 99% of people use but don’t realise are american. Countless other software too.

    Pop culture is mainly american too. A european movie/tv series will become popular in another european country after it made the vibes in the USA (Casa de Papel for example) in most cases.

    ​

    But most of all, it’s the fighter jets.

18. Apart from the abvious pop culture (where USA is still dominating) I can come up with this:

    Tesla.

    Harley Davidson.

    Maybe those two are not respected for it’s quality, but for the brands itself/the “soul”.

    American cars were highly respected pre the 70’s/80’s. The same with american made technology. (refrigrerators/TVs..)

    Some american beers and wines are starting to get popular.

    Some bourbon and whiskey are also popular.

    Soft drink (Coca Cola, Pepsi, Fanta, Sprite)

    IT Software.

    IT cloud services.

19. Hot sauce. Only Tabasco is a staple, but other hot sauces are on the rise so you can find sriracha or Cholula in some stores.

    Most rye whiskey here is American. The domestic stuff is still pretty niche. But I think Scotch and Irish are more popular than bourbon.

20. straight out of my head: military hardware ( Patriot missiles, military jets), Zippo lighters, American movie industry ( more respected by its size, less for quality for the last years). Some iconic cars ( Dodge Charger, Ford Mustang) – bu more because of their uniqueness than quality. Harley Davidson, Apple products. I think that’s all.

21. This may be some niche products, but:

    Kitchenaid stand mixers – the mixer itself (not any other accessory or appliance, those are all cheap plastic) is made in the USA and they are tough as nails. Other brands cheap out on the construction and the only comparable ones, build quality wise, are only found in the industrial kitchen market.

    Oddly enough, Singer. The quality has dropped massively in the last 10,15 years, but they’re still top sellers based on name and reputation alone. And it used to be deserved, a Singer sewing machine was a beast that you could buy at blind trust, nowadays it’s expensive plastic poopoo.

    Corning laboratory glassware – now, we have some excellent glass manufacturers here in Europe as well, like Schott and Pyrex, but Corning still keeps top spot when it comes to precision measurement glassware. If in front of me I have a sensitive protocol and the choice between a Corning volumetric balloon and a random VWR-branded one, I know which one I’ll pick.

22. Hand and power tools. Snap-On sprung to mind first but Leatherman as well.

    A good number of outdoor gear brands. More recently a good number are also preaching sustainability and more ethical production.

23. There are many niche products that are very well viewed. Besides what others said, many travel brands (especially hiking) are from the USA. Darn Tough socks, Briggs and Riley and Travelpro luggages etc

24. Generally things we don’t make ourselves in the EU, which is quite rare. America exports a lot of music and cinema here, pop culture stuff simply because we don’t have an actual pop culture industry at the same scale.

    Anything else, like manufactured goods like cars and such, are simply not sought after and if they try and break into the market they’ll be seen as overpriced and not worth it.

    The only exception I can think of is Jack Daniels, that stuff is popular.

25. Barbecues, luggage (thanks, Samsonite), computers (major traditional brands are American after all: Dell, hp, apple) even though Asian brands are now considered on par or even better in niche markets (acer, asus, lenovo), airplanes (commercial, business, or defence). Defence and aerospace industry in general.
    Entertainment industry (music, television, cinema).
    I will not mention apple iphones, while they are highly respected, it is more the brand than the nationality. Kind of an exception.

    What is NOT respected: Cars.

    Editing to add Internet industry. The Sillicon valley is a real thing.

26. I mean there are plenty of products from the US that are common or seen as the best in a given category, but I’ve never encountered anything that was just seen as “high quality” because it was made in the US.

27. Swedish countryside respects American muscle cars/pick ups, John Deere tractors and general “americana” things. The aristocracy would possibly respect American wines but they are generally seen as overpriced compared to the quality of France, Italy and Spain.