US legislation requires "American-made flag"
2024-08-10
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On July 31, a campaign event was about to begin in the United States, and staff were arranging American flags. Image source: Visual China
Comprehensive compilation Yang Zikang
According to ABC, US President Biden signed the All-American Flag Act, requiring that American flags purchased by the federal government must be made entirely of American materials and must be manufactured entirely within the United States.
The All American Flag Act was passed by the Senate in November 2023 and the House of Representatives in late July this year, and was submitted to President Biden for signature. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio were the main promoters of the bill. They said that the American flag should be "made in the United States", which is not only symbolic, but also beneficial to American employment and manufacturing.
Collins and Brown have been promoting the All American Flag Act in recent years. "The American flag should be made in the United States," Brown said recently. "After years of hard work, this bill has been passed. The American flags purchased by the federal government will be produced and manufactured in the United States by American workers."
"The American flag symbolizes our identity, our resolve, and our values...The federal government should only use flags that are made entirely in the United States," Collins said.
Previously, the United States imported a large number of American flags from overseas, most of which were made in China. In 2017, for example, the United States imported about 10 million American flags, of which 99.5% came from China.
According to the American Flag Manufacturers Association, the organization has developed a new set of standards: regardless of whether the flag is imported or not, as long as it is certified by the organization, it is an American flag of "pure American blood."
It is not new that the United States has introduced a new law to promote the "pure Americanization" of the American flag. This policy can be traced back to 1933, when the United States passed the Buy American Act, requiring government agencies to give priority to purchasing American-made products, with the proportion to reach more than 50%. During Obama's administration, this proportion was raised to 75%. According to a survey by the US media, foreign products now only account for 4% of the products purchased by the federal government.
In recent years, replacing "Made in China" with "Made in the USA" has become a hot topic among many American politicians and companies, who hope to use it to promote and improve their own image. Bloomberg News pointed out that the prevalence of false propaganda about "Made in the USA" has forced the US Federal Trade Commission to crack down on it.
Many Americans are not convinced by the All-American Flag Act. On the social media platform "X", some American netizens reminded people to pay attention to price increases and shortages caused by tightened purchasing standards. Some American netizens believe that it is not worth spending energy on such things. "There are so many things happening in the world, but you waste your time on such a childish thing." "Man, I think there are more important things than this."
Source: China Youth Daily Client
