UK adults increasingly motivated to buy from British websites after new US tariffs.
President Donald Trump’s introduction of “Liberation Day” tariffs on British exports has unintentionally fuelled a renewed commitment among UK consumers to support British-made products, according to the UK’s official domain name authority.
Nominet, the longstanding operator of the .UK domain registry since 1996, has observed a distinct increase in interest around British goods in response to the latest developments in American trade policy.
Surveying 2,000 British adults, the organisation behind more than 10 million domain names found that 49% of respondents said the US tariffs on UK goods made them more inclined to shop British in the future.
Just 14% indicated that they wouldn’t be more likely to buy British, while 37% said they were undecided about how the tariffs would impact their shopping choices.
Older generations – particularly those over 55 – demonstrated the strongest sense of pride in buying British. Regionally, the North East and West Midlands were most affected in terms of changing their purchasing behaviour.
In total, 64% of people surveyed said they had experienced a growing sense of national pride when purchasing British goods since the announcement, with only 13% reporting no emotional shift and 23% unsure of their stance.
Elsewhere in the findings, 54% of respondents agreed that having a UK-specific domain name – such as .co.uk or .uk – influences where they choose to shop online. The trend was particularly marked in the South East and Scotland, and again, more common among older shoppers.
David Carroll, Chief Customer Officer at Nominet, said:
“We’ve seen a Trump bump of our own in terms of online searches for UK domain names over the last week or so. With pride returning to buying British – it looks like a growing number of businesses and individuals are looking at registering a UK web address to join the 10m already registered.
“Choosing a .UK domain name has always been a conscious decision for many online businesses, but with a growing sense of pride in buying British – now may be the time for many UK businesses to tap into this feeling.”
Google search data backs up this trend, showing a surge in searches for UK web addresses immediately following the “Liberation Day” announcement – with traffic hitting its highest levels since February 2024 for terms like “co.uk”.
