The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is making July “Made in the USA” month.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson announced the move on Tuesday as the month of July officially gets underway and the Fourth of July holiday rapidly approaches.
The FTC is seeking to educate businesses and American consumers about Made in the USA standards, celebrate companies that make their products in America and prevent misuse of the label.
The FTC is tasked with enforcing the rules for products using Made in the USA labeling.
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“While we want to enforce the law, we also want to help companies showcase to consumers that American workers and manufacturing is an engine of American innovation, business creation, and economic growth,” Ferguson said in a statement announcing Made in the USA month.
Ferguson told FOX Business’ Lydia Hu in an interview that the FTC wants to “protect American consumers so that when they go to the store and they pick up a product that says ‘Made in the USA,’ we want them to have confidence that that is actually made in the USA so that they know they are supporting American workers in the American economy.”
The agency also wants to “help businesses who want to be able to advertise their products as made in USA” and help them “understand what the rules are” for advertising domestically made products as Made in the USA, he said.
The FTC has “tons of materials” available to businesses looking to advertise their products as Made in the USA and is looking to ensure they “are aware that these resources are available” through Made in the USA month, he told Hu.
There are strict rules around when products can use the “Made in USA” label and be advertised as being domestically produced.
Ferguson said the FTC wants to “protect the American worker and American manufacturing by making that label really mean something.”
Enforcement of rules surrounding Made in the USA standards will also be part of the FTC’s Made in the USA month.
Ferguson told Hu that the FTC is “going to be devoting a lot more resources” starting in July than it has been doing over the past several years to “protecting that Made in USA label” with plans for “increased enforcement” starting this month.
“We want people who honestly have products made in the USA to be able to use that label, and we’re gonna help them do it,” he said.
At the same time, the FTC wants to “protect the value of that label and protect consumer confidence by making sure that that label is being used honestly” and not by companies making false claims, according to Ferguson.
July becoming Made in the USA month comes as President Donald Trump and his administration have been working to increase manufacturing in the U.S. through various efforts.
Protecting the Made in the USA label is a “really important part of helping President Trump achieve that golden age that he was elected to bring about,” Ferguson told Hu.
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