Caught in the Middle of a Global Trade War: Singaporean Consumers’ Country Brand Evaluations

Abstract

The escalating Sino-American trade war is forcing countries to take sides. Several governments, including Singapore’s, are following a neutral path. Little is known about the trade war’s effects on neutral-country consumers’ perceptions. We sample Singaporean consumers who rate the attributes of different products associated with the country brands of the two belligerents (the P RC and the USA), as well as Japan. Conjoint and ANOVA quantify main and interaction effects. Respondents evaluate products from the USA higher relative to China, but the Japan country brand earns the highest overall evaluations. Respondents highly rate Japanese products on quality and value, but low on product image, like Chinese products. The USA country brand is rated highest on product image but low on product quality and value. Despite Singapore’s neutral policy, consumers have strong impressions of country brands in the Sino-American trade war. Findings have implications for marketing practitioners navigating geopolitical forces.

Keywords:

• Country brand
• trade war
• neutrality
• perceived value

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge data collection assistance by Phua Shi Ying and the helpful comments of the anonymous reviewers.