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This is essentially an upgraded version of protectionism.

Text | Haishangke

According to the Global Times, citing ABC, the "All American Flag Act" has been passed by the US Congress, and US President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law on August 1.

US media reported that the "All American Flag Act" has been passed by the US Congress

From the data, we can see that a large number of American flags imported by the United States are made in China. For example, in 2017, the United States imported about 10 million American flags, of which 99.5% came from China.

Obviously, on the surface, if the United States implements the "All American Flag Act" immediately, China's export orders may drop sharply. But if you look deeper, you can see that this may not be the case! The United States is likely to suffer losses on this issue and other issues!

01

The so-called "Universal American Flag Act" is not the first time that it has been mentioned at the U.S. Congressional level. As early as 2011 and 2014, similar proposals were passed by the U.S. Senate, but were stuck at the House of Representatives level.

In 2019, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio - two federal senators from different parties - once again joined forces to launch the "American Flag, Made in the USA" Act, and even stated that the concept of "100% Made in the USA" must be ensured.

Until November 2023, the US Senate passed the bill again. After being delayed until now, the US House of Representatives finally passed the bill. The rest is left to US President Biden. As long as Biden signs it, the bill will be implemented on August 1.

Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins

Let’s take a look at who these two senators are!

Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins is an outlier in the party. When the Republican Party nominated Donald Trump as the US presidential candidate this month, she announced that when the official vote comes in November, she will vote by hand for former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. In other words, she doesn't care about the resolution of her own party at all.

Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown Photo: The Paper

Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown is similar to Susan Collins. Within the Democratic Party, he has long opposed Biden's candidacy for the US presidency. Even after Biden announced his nomination of Harris, he still claimed that "Biden should give up his position as soon as possible."

It was these two people - a "rebel girl" and a "rebel boy" - who, after years of promotion - and at least three US presidents, finally made the "Universal American Flag Act" pass through both the US Senate and the House of Representatives.

Even though Biden is the US president that Brown opposes, it currently seems likely that Biden will sign the bill.

02

Why did the "Universal American Flag Act" fail to pass after protracted deliberations in both houses, but was passed only now?In Haishu's opinion, a situation worth watching is——

A cross-party populist force is emerging in the United States. This force does not even exist simply for the purpose of opposing China. For example, Trump often talks about "making America great again" and Brown said that "some American jobs have been transferred overseas, and now it's time to take them back", which are actually the incitement of this kind of populism!

The American federal government, states and other places use the American flag a lot. Photo: Shangguan News

For example, the "All American Flag Act" passed this time requires that government purchases must comply with two hard and fast rules:

For one, the flag must be made entirely of materials made in the United States;

Second, the flag must be manufactured and processed within the United States.

No wonder some commentators pointed out that isn’t this the work of the most extreme fundamentalists among American populists?

If the flag of the United States must be used, then if the U.S. military is operating overseas and does not have a flag for a while and needs to make one, is it illegal? After all, the U.S. military has a presence in many places around the world. From the perspective of supply, there may indeed be a situation where there is a shortage of supply. If it is impossible to purchase locally, should all U.S. troops be withdrawn to their homeland?

Some American friends also asked whether it would be illegal for Americans to breathe foreign air in the future? Americans should only be able to breathe air within the United States!

Next——

Americans can only eat food produced in the United States.

Americans can only wear clothes made of cotton grown in the United States or chemical fabrics produced from oil mined in the United States.

Americans can only marry Americans.

After that, then——

How can foreigners use American products if they cannot be exported?

Can the future "great again" America enter a stage of "self-sufficiency"?

At the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, James was the flag bearer of the US delegation and held the American flag

George Washington Crossing the Delaware River

I think that whether it is George Washington and other revolutionary pioneers at the beginning of the founding of the United States, or James and Coco Gauff, the athletes holding the American flag at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, they would not particularly think about where these stars and stripes were produced. For more than 200 years, aren't Americans more concerned about whether these flags meet the standards and characteristics of the American flag?

Will there be a situation like this -

When the US government is carrying out some foreign affairs missions overseas, before raising the flag, do they check whether the flags are made in the United States? If they are not made in the United States, even if the flag is raised, Americans can refuse to salute and claim that it is an "illegal American flag."

This is really interesting. Can the rest of the world agree that all stars and stripes not produced in the United States do not represent the United States? Or maybe some other organization can claim that since the United States of America has given up the right to represent the United States, then all stars and stripes produced outside the United States can have other representative uses?

03

In fact, according to current U.S. law, the federal government must purchase flags whose production materials are at least 50% made in the United States. I always feel that this "50%" setting is a bit of a science! The biggest science is that in case it is difficult to find a purely American-made star-spangled flag for a while, U.S. government employees can buy some flags as an emergency without breaking the law. It is just a workable measure!

"The American flag is a symbol of our shared national identity, resolve, and values. To honor its significance, the federal government should use only flags that are made entirely in the United States, and this bipartisan legislation will ensure our nation's symbol is protected while supporting American jobs and manufacturing," Collins said.However, some analysts believe that this is essentially an upgraded protectionism, a generalization of the concepts of national security and economic security, with the goal of keeping industries and jobs in the U.S. But in the end, the U.S. needs to bear the high costs and inflationary pressures caused by the implementation of "Made in America", which are potential risks.

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