Ivanka Trump Products Are Not Made In America
It’s “Made in America” week at the White House, but President Trump’s effort to highlight U.S. manufacturing has sparked questions about where Trump family products are produced. In fact, merchandise sold by the Trump Organization or sold through Ivanka Trump’s fashion line is all made overseas. John Yang learns more from Matea Gold of The Washington Post.
The Washington Post Released A Complete List Recently Including The Following:
According to Amazon purchasers, the blanket, which is listed as imported, is made in China.
And then theres this: A trademark application in India, reported by The Washington Post, which speaks volumes, is all-encompassing and daunting.
The trademark appears to show that the following Trump merch items were licensed to be manufactured in India in 2007:
So if youre in the market to buy some Trump products made in the good old U S of A, wed say your best bet is to visit one of his hotels or golf courses and only order bottled water.
Ivanka Trump’s Clothing Line
At last year’s “made in America” event, the White House defended the president’s daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump after an investigation by The Washington Post found that her namesake clothing and accessories brand relies exclusively on factories in Bangladesh, Indonesia and China.
“There are certain things we may not have the capacity to do here in terms of having a plant or a factory that can do it. The beautiful thing about a capitalistic society is if there’s enough of a demand for it, it will happen,” then-White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said last July.
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Donald Trump Blames China For Fact That Much Of His Gear Is ‘made In China’
Trump slams China for stealing US jobs, but his brand items are made there.
April 28, 2011& #151 — Donald Trump, who has repeatedly accused China of stealing manufacturing jobs from the U.S., acknowledged today that an array of Trump-branded clothes, accessories and other products are made in China.
The real estate and casino mogul, who is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination, blamed China for the fact that Trump ties, Trump cufflinks and even Trump teddy bears come with a “Made in China” label.
“The answer is very simple: Because of the fact that China so manipulates their currency it makes it almost impossible for American companies to compete,” Trump told ABC News.
“You see it with all of the items you are talking about. You also see it with building products. If it continues this way, America won’t have any jobs, except for taking care of the elderly.”
Asked if he ever looked at having his Trump products manufactured in the U.S., Trump said, “Always do. There are very few companies that do it because they can’t compete with the manipulation.”
Trump has made the flow of U.S. jobs overseas, especially to China, as much a centerpiece of his exploratory campaign for president as his questions about whether President Obama was born in America, saying, “The problem with our country is that we don’t make anything anymore.”
Donald Trump Gear Is Often Made in China
Trumps Out Of Office But The Maga Merchandise Machine Keeps Chugging
President Bidens recent criticism of ultra-MAGA Republicans has led to a new business opportunity for entrepreneurial conservatives.
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Denouncing ultra-MAGA Republicans in a recent speech about fighting inflation, President Biden clearly saw an opportunity to tie the party to Donald Trump and the far-right fringe.
Ronald Solomon, the president of the clothing and merchandising company MAGA Mall, also saw an opportunity.
Now, he says, demand is way up for ultra-MAGA hats.
Every time theres some attack on people like that, they gladly wear it and theyre proud of it, he said.
Solomon, an investment banker and lifelong Republican whose activism stretches back to making phone calls as a teenager for Ronald Reagan in 1976, began selling Trump-inspired merchandise in 2016. Solomon had initially volunteered for Senator Ted Cruzs presidential campaign, but he switched sides as the Make America Great Again movement took off.
Fast-forward to the present day, and the MAGA Mall website offers more than 180 hats and over a dozen product categories, including greeting cards, rhinestone caps and Not My Dictator T-shirts featuring Democrats like Biden and Gov. Steve Sisolak of Nevada.
Solomon, who also travels to Republican events to sell his products, said that he had about a quarter-million hats alone in inventory.
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Made In America: A Look At Trump Company Products Made At Home And Abroad
A number of Trump products are made abroad.
From “Trump” ballcaps to golf shirts, the Trump Organization’s store sells a mix of items made in America and those made abroad.
And in some cases, such as a gold bar coin bank, it is unclear where the item is made.
“Remember in the old days, they used to have ‘Made in the U.S.A.’? ‘Made in America’ but ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ we’re going to start doing that again, Trump said during a 2016 Made in America showcase. We’re going to put that brand on our product because it means it’s the best.”
A handful of the organization’s products are described as Decorated in the USA, or not marked at all. An “All Over Tartan” golf shirt is described on the site as: “Made in Italy for superb quality.”
At the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., a few gift shop items were made in multiple countries. Items including a circle trinket dish bearing the Trump name was made in China, a pastel red Trump hat made in Bangladesh and a Trump mug made in Thailand.
“I can tell you that in some cases, there are certain supply chains or scalability that may not be available in this country,” said Sean Spicer, former White House Press Secretary, in a 2017 press briefing.
The store’s website has separated its items with a tab dedicated to items made in America.
ABC News reached out to the Trump store for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
What About Brooks Brothers
After Trump insisted that they dont even make this stuff here, Stephanopoulos cited Brooks Brothers as one company that does.
Well, they but they dont make here, Trump said. They dont make here, not that I see.
Thats not accurate. Although many of the products sold by Brooks Brothers continue to be made overseas, the company has in recent years been reshoring back to the U.S. some of its manufacturing.
Arthur Wayne, a spokesman for Brooks Brothers, told us via email that currently 100 percent of Brooks Brothers retail ties are made in our factory in Long Island City, NY approximately 85 percent of our suits are made in our factory in Haverhill, Massachusetts. and our Original Button-Down Polo Oxford shirts, made to measure shirts, and some of our luxury shirts are also made in America at our factory in Garland, NC. We also offer some accessories and other furnishings which are Made in America.
David Trumbull, a consultant and expert in textiles and U.S. manufacturing, told us Stephanopoulos was correct about the Brooks Brothers example.
In the case of Brooks Brothers, for example, as its website explains , its collection of mens ties and bow ties are made cut and piled in the U.S. out of silk, cotton and wool woven in Italy or England.
We reached out to the Trump campaign and did not hear back, but in 2011, Trump was asked why he doesnt look at having his Trump products manufactured in the U.S.
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Are Maga Hats Made In China
Questions about the Trump campaign’s symbolic red hats started and were debunked in 2015. The claims circulated again last year and have found new traction as the country heads toward Election Day.
In 2016, a closer look at the hats by the Associated Press found that some did not contain the fabric that the manufacturer says is always used.
Brian Kennedy, president of Cali Fame of Los Angeles, the company that makes the official hats, did not explain the discrepancy but said “all or virtually all” of the materials are from the United States.
In 2019, Kennedy told AP that the hats are made entirely in Carson, California.
USA TODAY has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on the merchandise. But according to the official Trump merchandise website, the campaign’s products are “proudly made in the USA.”
While the “made in China” tags can be found on some Trump merchandise, those items are not official products of the campaign they’re from outside vendors.
A WCIV report of a Trump rally in Charleston, South Carolina, in March illustrated this distinction. Vendors at Trump rallies often sell merchandise, but most of these items are made outside the U.S. in countries like China, Honduras and Haiti.
Trump Merchandise Keeps Coming Out Of China
Trump and his minions are at it again.
Telegraph readers will recall my column Trump creates jobs in China, which appeared in the April 1-2 edition. I wrote of visiting the Riverside Flea Market in Grafton and seeing flags offered for sale that proclaimed TRUMP 2024. An examination of these flags revealed that they were made in the Peoples Republic of China, which had been abbreviated to P.R.C. in an attempt to conceal that fact.
Trump campaigned for the presidency in 2016 on the slogan Make America Great Again. Having ones campaign gear manufactured in a communist nation by exploited workers is hardly compatible with such a lofty sentiment.
Last Sunday, my wife and I returned to this flea market. I chatted with the vendors of the TRUMP 2024 flag, who told me they were delighted with the publicity my column had generated for this product. In fact, theyve expanded their Trump merchandise. They now carry yet another Trump flag that bears the lettering Gun Owners for Trump. Beneath these words is the image of a rifle depicted in red, white and blue colors.
Another new product caught my eye. It seems that those omnipresent MAGA caps have now been supplanted by a different type of headwear. These new Trump caps are fiery red the color of the Republican party and bear the words Trump. Save America. 2024. The bill of each cap sports a facsimile of Trumps signature.
And theyre probably right.
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The Claim: ‘make America Great Again’ Hats Are Made In China
Throughout his presidency, Trump has maintained a tough public stance on China, including the institution of significant tariffs on imports from the country, and his criticism has intensified following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which originated in Wuhan.
Dependence on China has become a hot-button topic for both parties and on social . As the parties’ conventions began in August, claims that Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hats are made in China started recirculating on Facebook.
One post, by the Facebook page “Trump Sucks,” has a montage of four photos: Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend and member of the Trump campaign, an text image that says, “Claims Democrats will send jobs back to China,” a photo of a MAGA hat is below Guilfoyle, and next to it is text that says, “Made in China.”
Fact or fiction:
Administrators for the page could not be reached for comment.
Claims that MAGA hats are made in China began circulating when Trump called for a boycott of Goodyear after the tire company announced its zero-tolerance policy for the apparel.
Politifact: Many Trump Products Made In China But Not Nearly All Of Them
“Go look at a Trump product. They’re all made in China.”
U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, June 18, in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch
The ruling
We asked Perez’s office for the source of his information. Mattie Munoz, his press secretary at the Department of Labor, said that since his comments were made on private time during a political event, she couldn’t comment.
So we set out on our own window-shopping spree, eying items listed on the Trump Organization’s website and searching for where they are manufactured.
We found that many Trump items are made in China, including cuff links, sport coats, shirts, eyeglasses, lamps and mirrors.
It’s impossible to get an exact read on what percentage of items are from China, because many items don’t disclose their exact origin. Some listed on Amazon.com and other shopping websites merely say that they’re “imported.”
We emailed the Trump campaign twice to see what percentage of his products are made in China but didn’t get a response.
The billionaire candidate acknowledged during a June 21 interview on ABC that his company manufactures neckties in China, suits in Mexico, furniture in Turkey and barware in Slovenia.
We found that some Trump ties were made in Indonesia and Vietnam in addition to China. Many Trump shirts were made in Bangladesh, and some sport coats were made in India.
Here are some other Trump products that we found are manufactured in the U.S.:
Cologne, called “Success by Trump.”
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In Georgia, the Republican primary race for the office that oversees elections remains a dogfight ahead of Tuesdays voting and its one of the purest tests yet of whether the 2020 election lie can be weaponized to win elections, reports Maya King.
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Senator Bernie Sanders is targeting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its affiliated super PAC, declaring war on the group for opposing his endorsed candidates in Democratic primaries.
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Donald Trump Once Again Blasted For Having Products Made In China
Donald Trump has been vocal in his thoughts about products produced overseas in China. Since entering office, Trump has advocated for more manufacturing jobs in the states and less reliance on foreign countries providing labor. It turns out, though, that he may not follow all that he promotes.
An astute Twitter user and an author, Don Winslow, shared a collage of images that showed products produced for his campaign and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her clothing line all coming from China. These photos come as a complete stark contrast to all that he has advocated for. An opponent of the country, and continuing to voice his displeasure over them for bringing into the states what he refers to as the “Chinavirus,” Trump recently executed a pro-America manufacturing executive order in which he established rules for Federal Government agencies to “buy American.”
Dear media,
Did @realDonaldTrump punish other USA companies for not making their products in USA while having all of his clothes, his daughter @IvankaTrump‘s clothes, AND his Trump campaign merchandise made in China and Vietnam?#TrumpMadeInChina
Don Winslow
After seeing all of the photos tracked down by Winslow, social media was filled with responses. Many were quick to call out Trump, who abruptly left his coronavirus briefing on Monday after a shooting occurred just outside of the White House, for not listening to his own message. Here’s a look at some of the most notable responses seen on Twiter.
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The Outsized Entrepreneurial World Of Trump Merchandise
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On rally days, the Trump-merchandise sellers work begins before dawn. Ive been awake for twenty-four hours, David, a roadside flag vender, told me cheerfully on Saturday, January 15th. We drove all over, looking for the best spot. The Save America rally in Florence, Arizona, hadnt officially begun, but hed already sold sixty Trump-themed flags, most for $39.95.
David, a first-generation American whose family moved to the Southwest from Mexico when he was a child, has been in the flag business since he was fifteen. Back then, he helped his stepfather sell banners to people who wanted to proclaim their allegiance to the Dallas Cowboys or to the state of New Mexico, among other things. Three years ago, with the market for flags booming, David went into business for himself. Although his stock includes gay-pride, Tupac Shakur, and Antifa flags, the Trump campaign, Presidency, and post-Presidency have been particularly good for business.
Solomon, like many other venders I spoke with, told me that last year was rough, compared with 2020. Trumps election loss, followed by the embarrassment of January 6th, put a damper on sales. Some merchants branched into Stop the Steal gear, but didnt find much success. It was hard to move, Solomon said.
An Honor Long In Coming
On Politics regularly features work by Times photographers. Heres what Michael A. McCoy told us about capturing the image above:
Before the pandemic, I always saw merchant mariners outside the Capitol. It took a long time for those guys to be recognized.
I am a veteran myself, having served in the infantry, and did not see a lot of Black officers. I have also spent time photographing veterans over the years.
When I arrived at this ceremony, I was reminded of my time in the military. Charles Mills was the only person of color there and, like me, is from Baltimore. The woman on the left is his granddaughter.
I stayed after the ceremony, after some other photographers had left, and was able to capture this moment.
Thanks for reading. Well see you on Monday.
Leah
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