Corporate America Loses Global Edge as Tariffs and Politics Fade Uncle Sam’s Glow

Red, white, and bruised: America’s image is on the ropes. According to Morning Consult data, the country’s global favorability has plunged into negative territory since April, coinciding with the launch of “Liberation Day.” This reputation drop is affecting iconic American brands abroad, as tariffs and trade tensions chip away at sales and consumer confidence.

• Scoring +15.34 in January, America’s average favorability rating now sits at -3.24 — meaning that, on average, the world holds more negative views of the US than positive ones.
• StarbucksSBUX
  , KFCYUM
  , and Brown-Forman ($BF.B) have all faced international boycotts — while McDonald’sMCD
  and TeslaTSLA
  have seen sales suffer as the country’s image sours.

Branded no more: A “Made in America” label once practically sold itself, but now companies are reworking their branding strategies. Borrowing from the playbooks of “greenwashing” and “pinkwashing,” corporate America is scrambling to emphasize local ties and distance itself from the drama in Washington. Kraft HeinzKHC

, for instance, wasted no time promoting its Canadian-made ketchup to sidestep trade headwinds. Call it ‘flagwashing’ — the new marketing move where red, white, and blue get rebranded into whatever brings in the most green.