Long before companies invented something called global supply
chain management, most of the products you bought in America
were made in America. It was just too expensive to manage
production in far-flung global factories and ship the goods back
home. Today, an “American” car sold in Chicago may have rolled
off an assembly line in Tennessee with parts made in a dozen
different countries. Last year, some 60 percent of the value of
goods sold in the U.S. was imported. That's up from 14 percent
in 1980 and 8 percent in 1960, based on the government's gross
domestic product data. So what does it mean to be "Made in
America"? A product has to be “all or virtually all” produced in
the United States (or one of its territories or protectorates)
to stamp "Made in America" on its packaging or advertising,
according to Federal Trade Commission regulations. Among its
various mandates, the FTC is charged with policing false or
misleading claims about products sold in the U.S. It sounds
simple enough. But it takes roughly