JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<select name="countries" id="countries" style="width:180px;">
<option value='us'>United States</option>
<option value='gb'>United Kingdom</option>
</select>

JavaScript

$(document).ready(function(e){
var name = "Country=";
var ca = document.cookie.split(';');
for(var i=0; i<ca.length; i++)
  {
  var c = ca[i].trim();
  if (c.indexOf(name)==0) $('#countries').val(c.substring(name.length,c.length));
  }
});

$('#countries').change(function(e)
{
    var cookieVal = "Country="+$(this).val();
document.cookie = cookieVal ;
 
});