US President Donald Trump’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy posture is doing more than unsettling markets or complicating diplomacy. It is reshaping how European policymakers assess American business as a whole. US companies are finding themselves exposed to political risk that originates not from their own conduct but from Washington’s treatment of allies.

For European policymakers, the “Greenland episode” reinforced a broader concern that US trade and foreign policy are becoming more openly transactional, less constrained by established norms and more willing to use economic leverage to pursue geopolitical goals.

And now, there is the conflict in Iran. Exclusive research conducted by Penta in late 2025 illustrates the scale of the reputational impact that was already underway before the most recent flare-up.

Among European Union policymakers, favorability toward US business fell sharply over the course of a year, declining 28 percentage points from 72 to 44 percent. In Brussels, American firms dropped from the fourth most favorably viewed business community to ninth, ranking only marginally ahead of companies from China, Saudi Arabia and Russia.

For global businesses accustomed to viewing the EU as a stable and rules-based market, that shift should not be underestimated. Policymaker sentiment matters: It influences regulatory discretion, enforcement priorities, procurement decisions and ultimately, the ease with which companies can operate across borders.

Indonesia sits at the intersection of these dynamics. As a regional headquarters for many US multinationals and a critical node in global supply chains linking Europe and Asia, it is especially exposed to changes in how jurisdictions assess political and reputational risk.