Most American consumers want to support American businesses, so the Made in USA claim can be very relevant to their purchasing decisions. 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 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.
