Apps to boycott US goods gain traction amid Trump's threats to Greenland

COPENHAGEN: The makers of mobile apps designed to help shoppers identify and boycott American goods say they saw a surge of interest in Denmark and beyond after the flare-up in tensions over President Trump's designs on Greenland.

The creator of the "Made O'Meter" app, Ian Rosenfeldt, said he saw around 30,000 downloads of the free app in just three days at the height of the trans-Atlantic crisis in late Jan out of more than 100,000 since it was launched in March 2025.


Rosenfeldt, who works in digital marketing, decided to create the app a year ago after joining a Facebook group of like-minded Danes hoping to boycott US goods. "Many people were frustrated and thinking, 'How do we actually do this in practical terms,'" the 53-year-old recalled. "If you use a bar code scanner, it's difficult to see if a product is actually American or not. And if you don't know that, you can't make a conscious choice."

The latest version of "Made O'Meter" uses artificial intelligence to identify and analyse several products at a time, then recommend similar European-made alternatives. Users can set preferences, like "No USA-owned brands" or "Only EU-based brands." The app claims over 95% accuracy. "By using AI, you can take an image of a product ... and it can make a deep dive to go out and find the correct information about the product in many levels," Rosenfeldt told Associated Press during a demonstration at a Copenhagen grocery store. "This way, you have information that you can use to take decisions on what you think is right."

After an initial surge of downloads when the app was launched, usage tailed off. Until last month, when Trump stepped up his rhetoric about the need for the US to acquire Greenland, a strategically important and mineral-rich Arctic island that is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.

Usage peaked Jan 23, when there were almost 40,000 scans in one day, compared with 500 or so daily last summer. It has dropped back since but there were still around 5,000 a day this week, said Rosenfeldt, who noted "Made O'Meter" is used by over 20,000 people in Denmark but also by people in Germany, Spain, Italy, even Venezuela. "It's become personal," said Rosenfeldt, who spoke of "losing an ally and a friend." Rosenfeldt knows such boycotts won't damage the US economy, but hopes to send a message to supermarkets and encourage greater reliance on European producers.

Another Danish app, "NonUSA," topped 100,000 downloads at the beginning of Feb. One of its creators, 21-year-old Jonas Pipper, said there were over 25,000 downloads Jan 21, when 526 product scans were performed in a minute at one point. Of the users, some 46,000 are in Denmark and around 10,000 in Germany. "We noticed some users saying they felt like a little bit of the pressure was lifted off them," Pipper said. On a recent morning, shoppers leaving one Copenhagen grocery store were divided. "We do boycott, but we don't know all the American goods. So, it's mostly the well-known trademarks," said Morten Nielsen, 68, a retired navy officer. Sixty-three retiree Charlotte Fuglsang said, "I love America, I love travelling in America. I don't think we should reegister protest that way."