If you have shopped online lately, odds are you saw products proudly advertising themselves as “Made in the USA.” Maybe it was a flag, a pair of boots, or a kitchen gadget. But how often is that label actually true? According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), not often enough. And this summer, the FTC delivered a not-so-subtle message to major players in American e-commerce, raising questions about the appropriate roles and responsibilities of platforms versus individual sellers.
New legislation passed by the House of Representatives on July 14 contains language that would allow the Pentagon and federal agencies to buy directly from commercially run online marketplaces such as Amazon, OfficeMax, Home Depot and other e-commerce retailers. The bill, H.R. 2810, is the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018. It passed in the House 344 to 81. The Defense Acquisition Streamlining and Transparency Act, later merged into the Defense Authorization Act, was designed to reduce bureaucracy and costs for the government. The Washington Post recently stated that House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.) sponsored the bill, saying ““Everybody understands what a difference Amazon has made…we’re trying to help DoD keep up with the changes in business practices with the goal of getting items faster, cheaper and keeping up with the changes in technology.”