Well, sure but it's also going to the Europeans that work in that factory, and to the local community through taxation. It probably benefits the local community just as much, if not more, than it would benefit Ford.

Not to mention, the government backed pension/retirement funds of many European nations are at least partially invested in global securities indexes and more conservative US corporate bonds. Which means many countries technically own chunks of Ford.

Also, surprise! European nations often sell their municipal bonds (to fund local projects) to American companies. Using Ford specifically as an example, I know someone who works for a local municipality in Finland and travels to Detroit every so often to sell their muni bonds to the US auto companies.

TL;DR the global flow of capital is absurdly interconnected. Trying to "hurt" a nation by not buying their goods can just as easily hurt your own country.

Yeah, but American companies leave and hide as much income and money offshore as possible for tax reasons so buying something outside the states is rarely going to give money to America.

Companies are private enterprises who's main purpose is to make a profit. They don't hide money offshore, they move money wherever it's not taxed as much. And the EU is pretty rough about that stuff anyway, especially when it comes to US corporations.

Car manufacturing is also a rather tough business to be in today - definitely not the money hiding type, but rather the "we build a factory in <insert industrial town with unemployment here> if you give some sort of tax break for a couple of years".

Which is globally owned