US President Donald Trump has said that his tariff regime, which effectively places a higher tax on imports, aims to put “America first again, folks” and force companies to either move back or retain production inside the country.
Specifically, in an address to a joint session of Congress in March of this year, he said: “If you don’t make your product in America under the Trump administration you will pay a tariff — and in some cases a rather large one.”
On Inauguration Day in January, he drove the message home with a blunt post on X: “Buy American and hire American.”
Yet a lot of the products Americans might have grown accustomed to, and that have a strong brand identity in the US, are currently made in Europe.
This is particularly true for products that are produced by large multinational companies, who use the benefits of globalised markets — and in the EU’s case, previously free trade with the US — to move production elsewhere.
The tariff threat is forcing some of America’s most familiar brands to choose between absorbing the tariff costs themselves and cutting into their own profits, passing them onto US consumers or uprooting sophisticated EU plants that took decades to build.
For now, most are stockpiling products in the US and tweaking prices while considering contingency plans for partial reshoring rather than shutting down their EU production lines.
Ahead of the tariffs going into force on Friday, we have compiled a list of all-American products that are entirely made in the EU and will be subject to the 15% levy that will come into force following the deal struck last weekend in Scotland between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
1. John Deere 6R & 6M tractors
Made in: Mannheim, Germany
In 2009, country crooner and Trump supporter Jason Aldean wrote a number-one hit song called Big Green Tractor, dedicated to the widely recognisable green and yellow John Deere — a staple of the US farm belt.
Trump is definitely aware that a big chunk of these agricultural workhorses are produced abroad since he threatened to slap the company with a 200% tariff during the election campaign in 2024 if it moved part of its production to Mexico.
The plant in Mannheim is the biggest Deere plant outside the US and even offers tours — if you are so inclined.
2. Viagra
Made in: Ringaskiddy, County Cork, Ireland
Pfizer’s plant in County Cork was built in 1969 and has produced Viagra there since 1998. It still churns out nearly the entire global supply of trademarked Viagra pills and generic sildenafil.
Pharmaceuticals account for the overwhelming majority of exports from Ireland to the US, with some estimates claiming they encompass around 60%.
In February, the export volume went up by 450% as companies stockpiled and front-loaded products in anticipation of tariffs.
3. Ray-Ban Wayfarers and Aviators
Made in: Italy
While Ray-Ban Aviators were the preferred brand of Trump’s much-maligned predecessor Joe Biden, Franco-Italian sunglasses giant EssilorLuxottica is the global industry leader in sunglasses production, and about half of its products — including products sold through or by Sunglasses Hut, Oakley and Target Optical — are sold in the US.
Ray-Bans were invented by Colonel John Macready of the US Army Air Corps to stop pilots’ eyes from frying at high altitude.
Would James Dean’s trademark swagger make girls swoon if he did not peer at them from above the frames of his Wayfarers? Risky Business would be an entirely different movie if sock-sliding Tom Cruise was not donning black Wayfarers while doing it.
And neither would Cruise’s other iconic role in Top Gun, where he wore Aviators.
4. Gillette razor blades
Made in: Łódź, Poland
Procter & Gamble claims that their Łódź cluster is the largest razor factory in the world, shipping to more than 100 countries.
The Polish facility does not produce exclusively for the US and exports to other countries as well, but the Procter & Gamble CEO said prices for US goods would increase as a result of the tariffs.
Disposable razors were invented in Boston by King C Gillette and popularised when the US Army issued every soldier with a Gillette razor in 1917, cementing their image as a staple of every American home.
5. Botox
Made in: Westport, County Mayo, Ireland
The Irish Times claims the AbbVie campus in Westport produces the “world’s entire supply” of Botox.
Invented in Los Angeles and beloved by glamorous Hollywood elites, it has become a staple of those wanting to postpone ageing and is not bothered by the frozen forehead look.
The US botox market is valued at around $4.8 million (€4.2m). AbbVie have announced a stateside investment to offset losses if tariffs stick.
6. Polaroid instant film
Made in: Enschede, Netherlands
The only Polaroid film factory in the world is found in the Netherlands. Polaroids were a cult Cold War-era product in the US, used by families across the country to take instant snapshots of birthday parties and barbecues, as well as by artists such as Andy Warhol.
When the US company announced it was going to stop producing the film in 2008, enthusiasts stepped in and made sure a factory in the Netherlands would keep production going.
While these days most people get the “Polaroid” effect via built-in filters on their smartphones, hobbyists, hipsters and Gen Z-ers have reinvigorated the market which was valued at $300 million (€262.8m) in 2024.
7. Nicorette gum
Made in: Helsingborg, Sweden
In 1996, the FDA switched Nicorette gum — a chewing product laced with nicotine — from a prescription product to an over-the-counter staple, which has since become a staple of US drugstore aisles.
The product is familiar to anyone who saw their parents try to kick their smoking habit as it became increasingly uncool and impossible to do in American public spaces. These days, the company is promoting its Quikmist spray as a means to quit vaping.
To be fair, the Nicorette gum was invented in Sweden, but that certainly does not fade its mass-market appeal in the US.
Every pack of Nicorette still rolls off lines in Sweden but Haleon is scrambling to pilot a blister-pack in Georgia to protect its grip on the nicotine-gum aisle.
