IME many Americans think the rest of the world is full of people who think like Americans, have the same values as Americans, and ultimately deep down all want to become Americans.
For example, a big reason the EU and US failed to sign a trade deal under previous (also democratic) presidents is because of food standards. The US side (including demcrats) seemed to think it’s all about money and protectionism, when in reality EU food safety and protecting certain regional products isn’t about the money for a lot of Europeans. It’s about protecting culture, safety, and national pride. Just look how the UK press bangs on about ‘American chlorinated chicken’. Americans typically have trouble grasping how food standards might lead to a government losing the next election.
It’s also a big problem for American businesses. Eg. Walmart’s failure in Europe because they tried to impose American culture on employees and customers, Disney’s initial issues at Disneyland Paris, GM not catering to European tastes and being forced to leave the market, Wendy’s troubles entering the EU market because they tried to bully a Dutch business owner and don’t understand that not everyone cares about money.
Trump’s people have no clue about how profoundly people in other countries look at the USA and think “thank fuck I don’t have to live there.”
Not just Trump’s people.
IME many Americans think the rest of the world is full of people who think like Americans, have the same values as Americans, and ultimately deep down all want to become Americans.
For example, a big reason the EU and US failed to sign a trade deal under previous (also democratic) presidents is because of food standards. The US side (including demcrats) seemed to think it’s all about money and protectionism, when in reality EU food safety and protecting certain regional products isn’t about the money for a lot of Europeans. It’s about protecting culture, safety, and national pride. Just look how the UK press bangs on about ‘American chlorinated chicken’. Americans typically have trouble grasping how food standards might lead to a government losing the next election.
It’s also a big problem for American businesses. Eg. Walmart’s failure in Europe because they tried to impose American culture on employees and customers, Disney’s initial issues at Disneyland Paris, GM not catering to European tastes and being forced to leave the market, Wendy’s troubles entering the EU market because they tried to bully a Dutch business owner and don’t understand that not everyone cares about money.