Misleading ‘Made in USA’ labels
With misleading terms such as ‘assembled in USA’ or ‘Designed in Canada’ it is increasingly harder to identify where a product is manufactured, and where your money is being sent when you purchase. New Balance proudly declares its shoes American made, when in reality only a fraction of them are.
While President Trump has accused China of destroying American jobs and pushes United States manufacturing, representatives at the F.T.C. did little to punish firms misleading consumers on where they manufacture. Many companies face no fines and are not required notify customers of misleading marketing.
Nectar Sleep mattress proudly declares its products as “designed and assembled in the U.S.A.” In reality they are mostly made in China.
President Trump directed much of his focus to rebuilding American jobs and industries. In April 2017 signing a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, with the goal promoting “American-made goods and to ensure that American labor is hired to do the job.” But still many companies continue to hide where they manufacture in the USA.
“Many companies that manufacture at home are already treading water,” Rohit Chopra, a Democratic F.T.C. commissioner who disagreed with the decision, said in an interview. “American companies shouldn’t lose out to corporate cheaters who lie on their labels.”
“In our view, a thoughtful review and forward-looking plan is a more effective and efficient use of commission resources than reopening and relitigating the cases before us today,” Joseph J. Simons, the F.T.C. chairman, and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a Democratic commissioner, wrote in a statement in September.
“Sandpiper caused confusion to at least one organizational buyer at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service looking for ‘Made in the USA’ products,” Alan Watts, a lawyer representing a competing company, Advantus, wrote to the commission in October. “This caused a very real unfair competitive disadvantage to Advantus whose compliance with the law caused it to lose sales.”
The F.T.C. has traditionally been week enforcing “Made in America” cases. The commission lists on their website 26 “Made in America” cases it has reviewed since 1999. In some of those cases, companies agreeing to a monetary settlement. In 2016, for instance, Chemence, a specialty chemical company, agreed to pay $220,000 to resolve an agency lawsuit.
We build this website as a platform to search and identify for confirmed ‘Made in USA/Canada/EU’ products. If you are ever in doubt, Google ‘Company X’ manufacturing and spend some time researching where your money is spent.