Valuing “Made in America”

Something to Take Pride In

There’s a whole lot of sweat equity behind a “Made in America” label. But some companies are trying to cheat their way to a marketing boost.

When you buy something with a Made in America label, you’re supporting a domestic manufacturer, along with the jobs it creates and the community where it’s located. No wonder, then, that more than three-fourths of American consumers say they prefer to buy American-made goods.

But some bad players have decided to cheat, taking advantage of the PR boost from a Made in USA country of origin label by placing it on imported products. Fortunately, the Federal Trade Commission has begun to crack down on this by fining companies for purposely mislabeling foreign goods as American-made. Still, there’s more work to do, including requiring online retailers to include country of origin labels in their product descriptions.   

American consumers deserve to know where goods are made – and they should feel confident that labels are accurate.