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Made in the USA: Easier Said Than Regulated

A Martian wishing to read the mind of the American consumer could get a good head-start by reading product labels and advertising.

Eric G

Nowadays, if they did that, they would see that we’re very interested in products that are natural, organic, and, increasingly, “Made in the USA.”

As a packager, you may have made the claim on your labels, or had the unwelcome experience of discovering a competitor’s label claims of origin that you suspect are false.

The Federal Trade Commission, whose job is to protect consumers from false or deceptive labeling and advertising, has proposed new regulations to clarify when you can and can’t lawfully make that claim. Those rules could add protection for American makers against unfair competition, especially given the fact that violators would now be subject to hefty monetary penalties. And yet, the proposed regulations wouldn’t make a big change from prior FTC policy.

Most American consumers want to support American businesses, so the Made in USA claim can be very relevant to their purchasing decisions. Recently, we have seen how political decisions and pandemics can draw attention to the surprisingly large number of products we buy, including drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients, that are made elsewhere, and that in turn has led even more Americans and companies to seek American-made products. The thing is, there are often complex international supply chains for products or components or packaging, so it’s not always easy to say simply whether a product is made in the USA.

The shorthand version of FTC’s position has long been that only products that are “all or virtually all” made in the U.S., with no or negligible foreign content, can lawfully make that unqualified claim.

Such unqualified Made in USA claims are the source of most controversies, because “qualified” or explained claims can provide more complete and truthful information to consumers. That’s why you will sometimes see more wordy claims that, to use an FTC example, a couch was “assembled in USA from Italian leather and Mexican frame.”


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