USA TODAY International Edition
‘ Made in America’ spin manufactured in fantasyland
Welcome to “Made in America Week,” the White House effort to celebrate domestic products.
Perhaps this is a brilliant ruse to obscure the fact that virtually none of the clothing lines, fashion accessories or home décor items marketed by either Donald Trump or his daughter Ivanka is actually — well, you know — made in America.
Or perhaps it is an oversight that will only cast more light on the aforementioned outsourcing.
With President Trump, you never know. Seemingly oblivious to the irony, he has spent the week gamely promoting U. S.made products ranging from horseshoes to firetrucks to guitars.
Made in America Week follows the same general approach of President Ford’s WIN buttons ( snappy little red- and- white fashion items that stood for “Whip Inflation Now”). They both confront a complex problem that presidents have little control over with a campaign that pretends to be doing something about it.
Fact is, American manufacturing employment has been battered by powerful forces of technology and globalization. And any free and prosperous country with an economy based on consumption is going to support a healthy dose of imports.
Absent tax code changes that encourage consumers to save and invest, the push for Made in America is a bit like the promotion of healthy foods in the Obama administration.
Yes, Americans should eat better. And, yes, it is a good thing to buy American. But people don’t like lectures on what they consume. And they don’t like being told to buy something that might be more expensive, especially if they are struggling to make ends meet.
In some ways, Trump’s little bit of ceremony is worse than prior ones because it provides justification for his misguided environmental and trade polices, most notably his decisions to withdraw from the Paris climate accord and the Trans- Pacific Partnership.
The first of these actions is based on the fallacy that American companies would hire signifi- cantly more workers if they were just allowed to pollute more. Actually, pulling out of the Paris Agreement will do far more to stir resentment of America in potential export markets than it will to create jobs at home.
The second is a more complex matter. But compared with previous trade deals, the TPP has less to do with manufacturing than it does with financial services, copyright protection, pharmaceuticals and high- tech. By pulling out, the United States has hampered some of its most promising export industries while encouraging Asian nations to seek their own agreements with China.
But far be it from us to spoil the fun. It’s Made in America Week, so let’s all celebrate. Might we suggest a nice Asian- made necktie from the Donald J. Trump collection?