We have all seen it: the “Made in USA,” label on a Ford truck or an article of clothing recently purchased. For many, it is a sign of patriotism, or even a reflection of good craftsmanship and quality. Some may reflect on the product’s local origins and want to invest in their local economy. Others may view it as a guarantee of ethical labor and production practices. Whatever the reason, the label has shaped American culture and consumer habits for almost a century.

However, many do not know what exactly this label tells us about a product’s manufacturing, or the history behind it. While these labels provide information about a product’s origin, they do not reveal the labor conditions behind every stage of production. As a result, consumers may assume a product was ethically made without knowing whether forced labor or exploitation were involved.

This matters because over 50 million people are believed to be trapped in human trafficking worldwide. Oftentimes, forced labor mirrors this example: a worker pays to get a job from a recruiting agency, and the job is in a foreign country. Upon arrival, their passport is taken away. They are forced to work long hours in unsafe conditions for little to no pay. They are now in debt, unable to pay their loan used to get the job. Forced labor can produce finished products, but it also may produce components of an item, which are then shipped elsewhere for further use. Supply chain transparency, then, is vital to preventing economic support of forced labor.

---

Made in USA: The History

To understand why country-of-origin labels alone cannot provide that transparency, it is necessary to examine how the “Made in USA” label developed.

The “Made in USA” label was a byproduct of one of the least popular pieces of legislation in American history. In 1930, at the beginning of the Great Depression, President Hoover called a session of Congress to address the long-troubled farm economy. Congressional protectionists like Senator Willis Hawley and Representative Reed Smoot saw this as a chance to increase tariffs with the hope of protecting the American economy. Against the opposition of many, President Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act into law. The legislation effectively froze international trade, caused the economy to further collapse, and also mandated that imported items be labeled with their country of origin.

By the time World War Two came around and the American economy finally boomed again, domestic marking of items as “Made in USA” became commonplace largely as a sign of patriotism. Such efforts continued throughout the Cold War, where buying American-made items was seen as a defense against America’s enemies. During the last two decades of the twentieth century, “Made in USA” started to become associated with ethical labor as American companies offshored jobs and news reports exposed sweatshops, which helped launch the anti-sweatshop movement. As brands like American Apparel advertised their clothing with slogans like “sweatshop-free” and “ethically made,” consumers started paying attention to country-of-origin labels. Consumers noticed an increasing amount of qualified “Made in USA” labels, which include a detail with the tagline:

• “Assembled in USA”
• “60% Made in USA”
• “Made in USA with imported parts”
• “Designed in USA – Made in Finland”

In 1997, the Federal Trade Commission issued guidance clarifying what “Made in USA” really meant. The standard it uplifted was that for a product to be labeled “Made in USA,” the product must be finished in the USA and contain “negligible” foreign parts. Under this standard, small parts of a much larger object can be foreign, while the wholesale item can legitimately be labeled as “Made in USA.” The FTC encouraged manufacturers to communicate with suppliers concerning the origin of their product and stated that companies did not need FTC approval before adding the label. Products with the “Made in USA” label must be “all or virtually all” made in the United States.

No definitive line was established to determine what was or was not negligible. A 2015 California state law set this standard at 5% or less of the total wholesale value of the product, which has been considered a common standard across the country. In 2021, the FTC codified the “all or virtually all” standard while increasing enforcement of the law. In March of 2026, President Trump signed an Executive Order to signal the pursuit of online manufacturers for false country-of-origin claims, and in April 2026, the FTC announced that several companies were being sued for false “Made in USA” claims.

---

Case Example: Daewoosa Samoa Ltd.

            In the midst of expanding consciousness in America concerning forced labor, the nation was surprised to find out that well over 250 people were trafficked into forced labor in a U.S. territory. In 1998, South Korean businessman Kil Soo Lee purchased a garment factory in American Samoa, where clothing for popular name brand stores was being produced with “Made in USA” labels, using over 250 people trafficked for their labor. Lee hired around 250 people from Vietnam and 25 from China. Those from Vietnam were recruited from Vietnam government-owned enterprises, as a part of a national program to export labor with the hope of bringing in billions of dollars of foreign currency into the impoverished homeland.

The Vietnamese laborers paid $5,000 and signed four-year contracts with the promise of receiving monthly payments equal to what the average Vietnamese person made in a whole year. They were hardly paid, put into degrading and deteriorating living conditions, and subject to physical abuse. A representative of the Vietnamese recruiting company, tied to the country’s communist government, was on site to make sure the workers complied with every demand. Local law enforcement eventually stopped the factories’ operation, which forced the workers into homelessness. Their families back in Vietnam were threatened, reportedly fired from their jobs, and sought after for money by government authorities. This is when the U.S. Justice Department stepped in, arresting Lee and sending him to court in Hawaii. Attorney General John Ashcroft, under whom Kil Sol Lee was prosecuted, described the Vietnamese laborers’ situation as “modern day slavery.”

Fortunately, traffickers in Samoa were “reached by the long arm of American law.” At the time, this was the largest prosecution of human trafficking pursued by the Department of Justice. The “Made in USA” label did represent one thing: that the domain of production laid under American rule, and therefore, justice was able to be applied. Since then, action taken to discourage human trafficking has increased as the United States, alongside the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Philippines, passed a plethora of laws against forced labor in response to this case.

Conversely, there are countries with no legal restrictions for forced labor that have been designated as failing to meet ethical standards by the United States. Upon designation in 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken noticed an “inhumane cycle of discrimination and injustices” in these countries. Consumers are encouraged to look at these country-of-origin labels to check the ethical foundations of the product. If countries that do not provide ethical guarantees are starved of demand, they would be incentivized to protect their workers.

---

A Caveat

The “all or virtually all” standard does not protect from all forced labor, but it does not mean that the product is certainly the result of it. It means that further research by the consumer must be done. Just as parents might study schools before sending their child to them, or congregants may look into what church they attend, the companies and products consumers use can be analyzed prior to consumption. In the past few decades, companies like Verité have been hired to perform social assessments of conditions in factories. When employee testimony, payroll records, and health and safety reviews are examined, fair labor conditions can be verified. In contrast to country-of-origin labels, independent certifications that specifically evaluate labor practices are often found on packaging for food items and tags for articles of clothing. Unlike a country-of-origin label, these certifications are specifically designed to evaluate labor conditions throughout the supply chain. A few examples of these are:

• Fairtrade International
• Fair Trade USA
• World Fair Trade Organization
• B Corp Certification
• RBA
• SA8000
• Amfori BSCI

Even with prosecution, no country is immune to the effects of human trafficking. However, by being conscious of the products one purchases, consumers can deprive economic incentive from exploitative sources and support those who produce items through ethical means.