Based on a post by u/USP123 regarding an FTC ruling against a company that knowingly mislead consumers by advertising the product was manufactured in the US, but was manufactured in China, we felt a sticky that shares these companies names would be beneficial to all.
If you want to have us add a company to this list, just post as usual. We added a flair, "Misleading Companies" that can be used in your submission. You have to have some form of evidence, such as a link to the FTC site, etc. to have the company name added to the list.
This post will be locked after about a week. If you have any comments or suggestions, post them.
Gilmour Foamaster hose gun. The outer plastic parts are made in USA while the metal parts are made in China. Thank you u/vince_nh, original post by u/Rcknr1
07/31/22 UPDATE - This site has a pretty good rundown of all the consumer protection provisions that were stripped out of USICA and America Competes. Country of Origin Labeling Online wasn't the only one.
While billions of our taxpayer dollars are being spent on pork, our elected representatives couldn't even pass simple laws that 1) require e-commerce sites to verify whether their third party sellers are lying, 2) require e-commerce sites to monitor for counterfeit products on their sites, and 3) require country of origin to be displayed.
Guess who the big winner is here?
Let's hope that these provisions make it back as standalone bills, which is where they started. I'm not holding my breath, though. Money talks, and sadly, it speaks simplified Chinese these days. I'd say that the politicians won't wake up until they've destroyed every last thing that will give our country a fighting chance, but in many ways that's already happened.
07/24/22 UPDATE - This is probably going to be one of my last updates to this post. Thanks to all the readers who upvoted, sent awards, and gave kind words, and thanks to the mods for allowing this unconventional thread to remain up.
I wish I had better news, but as you might have expected, the news isn't great. After months of classic Washington inaction, the Senate finally passed a bill they're calling "CHIPS-plus".
I'll save you from reading all 1,054 pages. It basically takes the original USICA and it guts it by removing pretty much anything useful, INCLUDING the country of origin provisions. But they did manage to keep in the full $250 billion appropriation that we, the American taxpayer, will be paying. And in order to get the "bipartisan" 64-34 vote, they essentially bribed 16 Republicans by promising a good chunk of that $250 billion to universities in their states.
Here's what's so aggravating about this bill. It's supposedly meant to get the USA competitive in the semiconductor industry by taking $250 billion of our money and doling it out to universities and corporations to do more "research".
Are you starting to see the problem here? The US INVENTED semiconductors. What made the US less competitive was NEVER a lack of technical knowledge. But US corporations threw intellectual property to China to get cheap labor, and US universities in the name of "wokeness" (and helped by endowments from CCP operations) happily allowed any innovations and breakthroughs to be immediately co-opted by China. Put another way, this $250 billion bill is nothing more than $250 billion of R&D that will eventually make its way back to China so dominate even more of our products and to threaten (in more ways than one) Taiwan's leadership in the space.
It astounds me that just a one-paragraph provision that would have allowed consumers to just get A LITTLE transparency as to where the products we wish to purchase was assembled was so quickly gutted from this bill more than TWO years after it was first introduced.
So sadly, country of origin online appears to be officially dead. In order to come back to life, someone would have to re-introduce it as a bill, and it'd probably go through another 2 years of being passed around only to be killed by lobbyists.
So what do we do now?
The first thing to do is to make sure you reward sites that provide country of origin information on their own without being forced to by the government. Sites I found in my research include Sam's Club, Grainger, Overstock, West Elm, Fat Brain Toys, Williams-Sonoma, and Sur La Table. But sadly, in the last two years sites that once enforced country of origin have stopped--these include sites like Wayfair and Crate and Barrel.
Surprisingly, I'm seeing country of origin on more and more Amazon listings. Hopefully they will see that their business will only IMPROVE if they provide this transparency that their customers have been begging them for years. If you see an Amazon listing that doesn't divulge country of origin online, submit a Q&A or a comment that provides it. I've noticed that Amazon censors more and more of the comments I make, even comments where I simply state nothing more than "This product was made in China". But they can't stop us all.
Other than that, this sub will continue to be one of the places we can each share information, and I'm gratified to see that my own blog and many that came before me are getting a lot of positive attention. Our corporate executives have failed us, our politicians have failed us, so at this point its up to us to take a stand and help our fellow citizens see the truth--that a portion of every product they purchase that's made in China--from that $50,000 car to that $2 smartphone cable, goes to fund oppression, aggressive military expansion, the world's worst environmental record, and world history's worst human rights record. You would think our elected officials would protect us, but since they have failed, it's time to find new elected officials.
Thanks for reading lo these many months. I hope there will be reason for me to post an update. But I think we all know the chances of that happening.
07/01/22 NON-UPDATE - I'm calling this a "non-update" because there's really not a whole lot to update. Leaders in Congress had promised that they'd have a compromise bill ready for a vote by the July recess. That didn't happen.
Country of Origin was just one tiny provision in a bill that would, among other things, revitalize semiconductor manufacturing in the US to curb the growing threat of China, impose sanctions on China for their cybersecurity and human rights abuses, prohibit funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (!!), and much more. The Senate's USICA was a fantastic job in bi-partisan work. But the House is a dumpster fire of Democrats and Republicans who spend more time wasting their time (and our money) trying to destroy each other instead of the Chinese Communist Party.
I'll continue to keep an eye on it, but at this point the chances of American COMPETES succeeding is slim, much less the country of origin online provision surviving when it doesn't represent a windfall to a House Member's district. In the meantime, the centrally controlled government of China continues to laugh all the way to the bank.
I'm getting sick of hearing myself say "write Congress". At this point I'm going to say "register to vote" and throw every last one of these idiots out on November 8, because they sure as hell aren't representing any of us.
05/20/22 UPDATE - The Conference Committee kicked off on 5/12/22. Not surprisingly, there's been a flurry of discussion and debate around where to spend the billions of dollars, but no one to stand up to advocate for Country of Origin Online, which would cost US taxpayers NOTHING.
Nancy Pelosi is pushing for the bill to be finalized and passed before July 4--in time to give all of the Congresspeople in swing districts time to create their campaign ads bragging about how many billions they brought to their districts.
Also not surprisingly, lobbyists for corporate America are speaking out against Country of Origin online. Here's a missive from the American Action Network, which spends over $43 million a year in lobbying.
They call Online Country of Origin Labeling "bad". Why? Let's go point by point:
- The manufacturer of a product knows its inputs and production processes and has the data on-hand to provide such information through a physical country of origin label for its own products. But the COOL Act would require retailers to post and verify this information on products provided by their suppliers.
Today, suppliers are responsible for providing accurate information about their products--how big it is, how much it weighs, what color it is, etc. Country of origin is ALREADY mandated on physical products, so all a supplier needs to do is look at their box and type what they see into their e-commerce product listing. Seriously, how hard is that?
And--oh the horror--that an online retailer actually has to CHECK the accuracy of the information that they're showing their customers! I thought their only job was to sit back and watch our money flowing in.
It's preposterous that retailers (who fund this NGO) feel that information that is SO vital to our decision-making as consumers is SO difficult to provide to us. Some of us don't want our money funding a murderous, tyrannical government, some of us don't want to subsidize the wanton destruction of local manufacturing. But to these deep pocketed retailers, we're just annoyances. "Just give us your money and shut up".
Retailers would face new costs by having to backtrack and collect and decipher large amounts of data for the millions of products sold online by millions of suppliers.
Aww, does the poor multi-trillion dollar company need to hire a few unpaid interns to do a one-time project to make sure their database is up to date?? What nonsense.
As I said above, retailers don't even need to lift a finger. Put the onus for providing accurate country of origin information on your supplier. If you get sued, pass the liability onto your supplier AS YOU DO IN EVERY OTHER CASE where the supplier gives you false or misleading information that results in legal action.
When India passed mandatory online country of origin laws, you didn't see their retailers suddenly going out of business or crushed under this unbearable burden. They did it and they moved on. Why can't the USA do the same?
In addition, country of origin labels indicate the final assembly location of a product but leave out the fact that most items are made from components sourced from around the world. For example,Apple’s iPhoneis assembled in China by Foxconn (a Taiwanese company), but that stage of the process only represents $10–$20 of the value of the phone.
This is clear misdirection. All of the laws on the books already that regulate country of origin on physical labels (The Tariff Act of 1930, the 1933 Buy American Act, the 1946 Lanham Act, etc.) lay out clear rules that have worked for 92 years. An iPhone by the "Taiwanese company Foxconn" is labeled as "Made in China" because that's the country where the most "substantial transformation" took place, regardless of where components came from. The authors of this white paper know this very well, but are being deliberately obtuse, knowing that their audience (the members of Congress who they write checks to) won't take the time to understand. Shame on you, Tori Smith and Tom Lee.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. All they have to do is apply the same rules for online labels as they do for physical labels.
Here's the sad thing. These deep-pocketed NGOs are showing up all over the place--on Google search, on Google News. This thread we're on--which I hope you'll agree has one of the most detailed, fastidiously-researched content about USICA and American Competes--is not even ranking in the top 100 of Google.
05/06/22 UPDATE - There was a flurry of activity in the Senate on 5/4/22 as various Senators raised sections of the amended bill that they wanted to instruct Senate conferees to "insist upon" when talking to their House counterparts. Here's what passed.
Gain of Function Research, OCS 5-Year Plan, Iran, USTR IG, China's Malign Influence, CHIP Investment, Digital Yuan, Green Climate Fund to DARPA, Oceans data, Critical minerals, Intel Review, Reject Mink Fur Prohibition, Prohibit Rejection of All-of-the-Above Energy Portfolio, R&D Tax Credit, Roll and Claw Back Provisions, SBA, Iran, Mexico, HBCUs, Climate Emergency Declaration, Trade, Section 301, National Labs
The Country of Origin Labeling Online Act--not altogether surprisingly--didn't come up. It remains buried in an obscure section of the amended bill (which is over 2300 pages long) called TITLE V--MISCELLANEOUS. It's not dead, but it also doesn't have anyone really championing it.
The Senate did name their conferees. If you see your Senator's name here, make sure you write to them and tell them that you care about the Country of Origin Labeling Online Act (Section 2510 of the Senate amendment to H.R. 4521)
Cantwell; Menendez; Wyden; Peters; Murray; Brown; Warner; Kelly; Warnock; Hickenlooper; Tester; Heinrich; Baldwin; Wicker; Crapo; Risch; Burr; Portman; Grassley; Shelby; Toomey; Barrasso; Capito; Cornyn; Young; MoranThis site does a pretty good job of summarizing where we are.
The House bill was gargantuan, and the Senate amendment (which contained the entire contents of the Senate bill that passed last year) made it even more gargantuan. The Congressional staffers this site spoke to said it'd be a miracle for any movement to happen on this overall bill. And you can imagine the chances of our little issue making it through the process. But I'll keep on top of it to the bitter end :P04/28/22 UPDATE - The Conference Committee that was convened in early April is set to start the formal process of hammering out the final language of the bill. I have to say, I am astounded at how little is being reported about this bill. It seems that every reporter in the country, right and left, is obsessed with Elon Musk spending $44 billion of his own money. In the meantime, 107 elected officials are about to spend $300 billion of OUR money, and I can't find one mention of it on any news site.
This niche news site does a fairly good job of outlining where we are today.
To summarize, in addition to the representatives below, 26 members of the Senate will get together to hammer out the final language of the bill to be sent to the President's desk.
I'll be honest, at this point it's going to be a craps shoot as to whether this makes it. The Country of Origin Online mandate is a tiny section of this gigantic bill. There's going to be a lot of horse trading as each member of Congress tries to get their piece of the $300 billion pie. You can bet that representatives in the pocket of the US Chamber of Commerce are going to try to "trade" this provision (which has no money attached to it) to other representatives who have millions of dollars going to their district on the line.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the only weapon we have are our voices and votes. Write to your Congressperson or Senator and get them on the record saying they will support a Country of Origin Online mandate. If they don't--or if you don't hear back from them--then remember that in November.
04/21/22 UPDATE - On 4/7/22 The Speaker of the House appointed members of the House from various committees to the Conference Committee to consider the Senate Amendment.
If you see your Representative's name here, write them immediately and tell them you want Section 2510 (Country of Origin Labeling Online Act) of the Senate Amendment to remain in the final bill.
Energy and Commerce: Pallone, Eshoo, Schakowsky, Matsui, Tonko, Blunt Rochester, Soto, Rodgers (WA), Bucshon, Carter (GA), Duncan, and Crenshaw.
Foreign Affairs: Meeks, Deutch, Bass, Castro (TX), Houlahan, Jacobs (CA), Kinzinger, McCaul, Chabot, Wagner, Green (TN), and Kim (CA).
Science, Space, and Technology: Johnson (TX), Lofgren, Bonamici, Bera, Stevens, Bowman, Foster, Lucas, Weber (TX), Babin, Waltz, and Garcia (CA).
Ways and Means: Neal, Blumenauer, Davis, Danny K., DelBene, Chu, Kildee, Gomez, Brady, Buchanan, Smith (NE), LaHood, and Miller (WV).
There were also 35 other representatives who were appointed to focus on different parts of the bill, but none of them mentioned Section 2510 specifically, so I assume that section is up to the 50 or so people listed here.
The fact that this isn't all over the news and is being reported by some random dude on Reddit tells you all you need to know about how certain people don't want you to know about this (who owns The Washington Post again, and why does the Washington Post seem to only report on opposition to this? Democracy dies in darkness, indeed.)
The next step will be for the amended bill to be sent back to the House of Representatives. The House will of course reject the amended bill, which will send the bill to a Conference Committee made up of members of the House and Senate to iron out the differences (which in this case is an entire bill made up of 2,912 pages). The Senate wants to spend $250 billion. The House wants to spend $325 billion.
Bottom line, a handful of House and Senate members in the Conference Committee will ultimately determine what makes it into the final Bill, which will then go to the full House and Senate for a final vote. Whether the country of origin online mandate makes it in will depend on them. I know I'm being a broken record, but if you haven't written your Senator or Congressperson and told everyone you know to yet, now is the most crucial time. Send a message that the final bill must contain a Country of Origin online mandate and if it doesn't you will hold them responsible come November 8, 2022. If they throw up their hands and say that it was not their fault, ask them if they did everything they could to pass along this message to their leadership and to the Conference Committee.
Here's what makes me nervous. The US Chamber of Commerce made a special point to send their letter to all 435 House members expressing their "strong opposition" to a Country of Origin online mandate. Make no mistake--this was a threat. This was telling all 435 House members (especially those serving on the Conference Committee) that they can kiss good-bye to lobbying dollars if they dare to step out of line.
Here's why I want to take every Republican, every Democrat, and every lobbyist in the US Chamber of Commerce and just shake some sense into them.
Let's say the final bill comes out to $300 billion in government spending to "stimulate the semiconductor manufacturing sector" in the US. It all sounds great in theory. But has anyone stopped to think--how much of that government spending will allow American manufacturing (where the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour) to compete with Taiwan (where the minimum wage is $6 an hour) and China (where the minimum wage is $2 an hour)?
Let's face it. During a time of runaway inflation, this bill is just another $300 billion that will be doled out as political favors and be gone within a few months. I can tell you what will happen today if this bill passes. The vast majority of the $300 billion will go to corporate executives and labor union leaders and then be gone in a few months. Congress will come back with their hands outstretched asking us for more tax dollars to find more spending, at a time where we'll be paying $10 for a gallon of gas and $7 for a gallon of milk.
But here's the aggravating part. A Country of Origin Online Mandate costs the U.S. Taxpayer NOTHING. The US Chamber of Commerce whines that it would cause an "overwhelming burden" for retailers. Last I checked, Amazon is a $1.6T company, Target is a $104B company, and Walmart is a $403B company. Surely it is not an "overwhelming burden" for them to hire a developer for five hours of work to add "country of origin" to their Web sites.
What could We The People do to the trade imbalance if Country of Origin were available to us online? Ask your friends and neighbors. Would they pay an extra $2 for a pair of socks if they knew it was made from cotton sheared in the USA and not by slaves in Xinjiang? Would they pay an extra $50 for an iPhone that was made in a country like India or Malaysia instead of China?
Americans are not stupid. It is only a matter of time before more and more people realize that a portion of every product they buy goes directly to fund the CCP's surveillance state, its extermination of Uyghurs, its crackdown of freedom in Hong Kong, and its missiles pointed at Taiwan. But it's retailers who are refusing to show Americans the basic information they need to make this decision.
Retailers and US corporations are pushing all of us into an untenable situation: when China finally crosses that red line, our reliance on China manufacturing will make the EU's reliance on Russian oil and gas look like child's play.
3/17/22 UPDATE - On 3/17/22 Senator Schumer from New York formally set the process in motion to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the bill. According to him, the process will take place "next week as quickly as we can".
AMERICA COMPETES ACT OF 2022 - Mr. SCHUMER. - Mr. President, I have an announcement to make for the information of Senators. In a few moments, I will take the next procedural step to advance the jobs and competitiveness legislation so important to so many of us in this Chamber. Last summer, the Senate passed an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill...In order to go to conference, the Senate needs to amend the House-passed COMPETES bill with the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act and send it back to the House. That is what we will aim to do next week as quickly as we can...Let us have bipartisan cooperation on this bill...I hope to see an agreement to expedite this process soon. In the meantime, the process is moving forward.
3/14/22 UPDATE - The America COMPETES Act was passed by the House of Representatives on February 4, 2022--complete with the complete removal of any reference to mandating country of origin online.
The next step will be for Congress to take the Senate's USICA (which had a country of origin online mandate) and the House's America COMPETES Act (which did not) and send it to a conference committee to come up with a consolidated bill that will ultimately go to the President's desk. Whether the country of origin online mandate survives will depend on what happens during this process.
Maddeningly, the US Chamber of Commerce released this letter on February 2, 2022 actually celebrating the omission of Country of Origin Online requirement from the House version of the bill.
The Chamber strongly opposes a provision of the Senate USICA bill that is thankfully not included in COMPETES related toCountry of Origin Labeling.This ill-conceived provision would add significant complexity, costs and burdens to the existing programs authorized by trade laws and enforced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Such a new, conflicting regulatory regime would create a new liability for retailers and sellers to not only post the required information but certify the accuracy of the information provided by product vendors, and does not include a corresponding obligation for manufacturers, rights owners, distributors, and other sellers. Labeling provisions were added to USICA legislation without sufficient opportunity for stakeholders to discuss their concerns. Many unanswered questions remain about the practicality and administrability of such a provision.
This is completely ludicrous, of course. Country of origin is already required on physical products, so to claim that it adds a burden to online retailers is pure hogwash. Yes, it would "create a new liability for retailers to certify the accuracy of the information". That's THE POINT. We WANT Amazon and Walmart to make sure their manufacturers and sellers provide accurate information--and if they don't do so willingly, we WANT a law mandating that they do! India has already passed a law mandating country of origin online, and their retailers seem to be doing just fine.
But the members of the US Chamber of Commerce (which include the top retailers in the country), would rather we US consumers remain in the dark and NOT be able to see "Made in Russia" or "Made in China" on our products, just to save their members from lifting a finger to making this basic information available to consumers.
It is also astounding how little information is coming out about this issue. The only reference I could find to it in any media was an opinion piece in the Washington Times, where Michael Stumo, the CEO for the Coalition for a Prosperous America, mistakenly believed that the House version of the bill contained Country of Origin Online mandate.
Helpfully, the bill also includes the country-of-origin labeling originally advanced by Ms. Baldwin and Mr. Scott. Congress is now working to merge the House bill with similar China legislation that passed the Senate last year.
You would think the CEO of one of the organizations who is most actively lobbying FOR country of origin online would be aware of how the House stripped away Country of Origin from their bill, but even he isn't aware of what happened. I don't blame him as much as I blame how skillfully the lobbyists worked to ensure the language was removed from the American COMPETES Act and replaced with confusing language that does NOTHING in a way that fooled even the staunchest proponents of a mandate.
We can throw up our arms and admit defeat to yet another well-funded lobbying organization that puts corporate profits over the ability of consumers to make informed decisions. Or we can fight back. PLEASE get on social media and PLEASE write your Congressperson and your Senators to ask them to MAKE SURE that the final bill that gets sent to the President's desk after coming out of Conference Committee MANDATES COUNTRY OF ORIGIN ONLINE.
I don't know who the members of the conference committee are yet (if you do, please share it here). But we need to make our voices heard to them louder than the $100,000,000 of the US Chamber of Commerce.
At a time when China is literally testing the waters to plan their invasion of Taiwan and where Russia is decimating the civilian population in Ukraine--with China's tacit approval, American consumers need to be able to make a choice. How much damage have the lobbyists of the US Chamber of Commerce caused over the last 30 years by lobbying Republicans AND Democrats to support and promote China manufacturing among their members? This has to end NOW.
-------------------------- Original post follows --------------------------
I'm not a lawyer and I'm not a politician, but one thing I have been following very closely is proposed legislation that would mandate that all online sellers clearly mark Country of Origin on every product listing. It's not a hard thing for retailers to do (county of origin has been required on every physical package since 1931), and India already passed a law like it.
But US retailers resist because they believe their profits will plummet if any friction is put between them and their cheap China manufacturers.
Things were looking really good last year, The US Senate passed a bill called the USICA. In it was this very simple requirement.
It was passed with broad bi-partisan support and went to the House, where it languished for months.
Today, the House Democrats released their "version" of the USICA. As you might imagine, it is filled with pork and spending projects. But I'll be honest. As a US taxpayer, I'll support the pork and the wild spending if it just means that I can see a Country of Origin on every Web site.
Like I said, I'm not a lawyer, but I don't see ANYTHING in this new bill that is remotely similar to what the Senate passed. The closest thing I found was some obscure legalese that talked about how retailers had to force "third party sellers" to disclose country of origin (and even then, there is enough legalese where retailers can easily weasel out of any liability).
To me, this is a clear case where lobbyists got to the people writing this bill and get them to excise ANY hint of a true country of origin mandate. And this isn't an "R" or a "D" thing--had the tables been turned, I'm sure House Republicans would have done the same. This is precisely why Congress has a 30% approval rating.
So I have a few things to say.
First, can someone who has the stomach to read through a 2,912 page bill and the smarts of a lawyer (or the dumbness of a politician) tell me if I'm missing something here? Is there anything like the Senate's language in the bill?
Second, NOW is the time to write your Congressperson (start by finding out who he or she is) and DEMAND that the final version of their version of the USICA contains the same language that the Senate had in Section 2510 of their bill. And tell them that come November--whether they have an "R" or a "D" after their name--you will not be supporting them if they do not pass this very basic demand from the American people.
There are 48,000 members of this subreddit. A lot of us have social followings of 100 people or more. We can make our voice heard and put an end once and for all to retailers who think that making money means hiding information from consumers so they cannot make informed decisions.
Looks like the sub does not allow uploading multiple images.
Just received my powerbank and screen protector. These are 2 of the things I thought I would never find one NMIC. But finally found some.
Elecom is a Japanese brand usually making peripherals stuff. Though 90% of their products are MIC anyways, luckily some of them are not. The powerbank I bought is made in Malaysia and the screen protector is made in Japan.
They also have another powerbank that is made in Vietnam so I'll share both links (better buy at Amazon JP as it's usually a bit cheaper):
Unfortunately it seems they don't sell these outside Japan so you might need a proxy/shipping service if you want one. Luckily there are quite many services like that at my place so I could buy them.
Smartphone manufacturer OnePlus leaves Europe and North America.
10 years ago we were told that Chinese phones brands would absolutely DO-MI-NATE the world. Just submit for your own good... And here we are... OnePlus gone, the other brands of the group, Oppo and Vivo, struggle as well despite millions in advertising, paid YouTubers, and early adopters enthusiasm. Many other Chinese brands left quietly already, or just launch a few models.
Remember that to anyone tempted by Chinese cars. In 5-10 years your brand might be gone! Even BYD.
So why is that? In Europe and North America Apple, Samsung (and even Google) dominate the market. A small share of the pie is left to Chinese brands. And when they start to look at their sales versus sales in their mainland market China there's too much of a gap to justify the effort. So they leave.
So guys, continue your efforts to buy local or non-chinese brands. It pays off.
Trying to replace my room's ceiling fan because I'm trying to make my space more smarter and so I wouldn't have the hassle to buy smart bulbs or switches
I have long been fascinated with new and emerging technologies and water. But a new wave of interest is sweeping the US even as drought and water issues shock our nation. One answer to these problems could be water made from air. So, I put on my research hat, and went to work because I wanted to buy one.
Since I live in America’s heartland, I wanted a US Made product. But what I discovered was interesting and a little scary.
While only one company makes systems in the USA, many Chinese companies and manufacturers are trying to carefully pass off products built in China as US built or domestically produced — it’s not true.
One such company is Aquaria. I use them as one of the best marker examples of a China marketing and concealment effort designed to mislead unassuming US customers into thinking what they are purchasing is made in USA.
The total number of China white labels I counted with the help of my AI assistants is about 40 China brands selling in the USA.
[Sources: Aggregated from Chat GPT, google; and other in 2026]
Aquaria Technologies, Inc. — Evidence Summary:
1. U.S. corporate registration
Finding:
Aquaria Technologies, Inc. is registered as a “U.S. corporation.”
Corporate registration information shows:
Entity: Aquaria Technologies, Inc.
State of incorporation: Florida
Entity type: Profit Corporation
Filing date: May 23, 2024
CEO: Brian Sheng
COO: Eric Sheng
Principal business address:
600 Congress Ave.
Austin, Texas 78701
Registered agent:
Brian Sheng
Orlando, Florida
Source: [Florida Division of Corporations — Sunbiz.org]
Observation:
Aquaria is a U.S.-registered company. However, U.S. incorporation does not establish that the products sold by the company are manufactured in the United States. Their website claims to be an Austin based US company. True, but their products are not made in USA.
2. Evidence of Chinese manufacturing relationship
Finding:
Public trade records identify Shenzhen FND Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. as a supplier to Aquaria Technologies Inc.
These records indicate Aquaria imports atmospheric water generation equipment from a Chinese manufacturer on a routine and ongoing basis.
3. Shenzhen FND identifies itself as a Chinese manufacturer of atmospheric water generators
Finding:
Shenzhen FND Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. describes itself as an air and water technology company involved in:
research and development,
production,
sales,
installation,
service of atmospheric water generators.
The company identifies its operations in Shenzhen, China and promotes atmospheric water generator products and OEM/ODM capabilities.
Source: [Acquarias Water / FND Group]
Observation:
FND is not merely a trading company; it presents itself as a manufacturer capable of producing atmospheric water generation equipment.
4. Evidence of an Aquaria–FND business relationship
Finding:
FND publicly identifies Aquaria Technologies, Inc. as an American partner/representative. This information is current as of July 2026.
Source: [Acquarias Water (China) — Contact Information - America]
Observation:
The China relationship or connection is supported from both sides:
FND identifies Aquaria as its U.S. partner.
Import records identify Aquaria as a buyer of FND-manufactured water generators.
These records are public and available with little digging
5. OEM / white-label possibility
Finding:
FND advertises OEM/ODM manufacturing services for atmospheric water generators.
Source: [Acquarias Water — About Us]
Observation:
The documented relationship is consistent with a private-label/OEM business model, where:
A Chinese manufacturer produces equipment.
A U.S. company markets and sells the equipment under its own brand.
This business model is common and is not automatically improper. The key issue is whether marketing claims accurately describe the product’s origin and manufacturing process.
6. Additional evidence of non-US manufacturing:
Finding:
Documented evidence shows:
Aquaria is a U.S.-registered company.
Aquaria imports water generators from Shenzhen FND Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. in China.
FND describes itself as a manufacturer of atmospheric water generators.
FND (located in China) and Aquaria have a documented business relationship with Aquaria.
Aquaria most likely uses the carefully chosen words “Austin based“ company in its advertising in an attempt to mislead customers that its products have a US origin. They hold just short of lying.
Let the Buyer Be Aware!!!
Please share and like. I will continue to post more water related tips and findings as our thirsty world changes!
We all need water. I just don’t want mine made in China any more than I would give my child formula made in China.
I have been researching atmospheric water generators because I am interested in emerging water technologies and wanted to purchase a system made in the United States.
During my research, I found that many companies selling these products appear to be U.S.-based brands, while some manufacturing appears to occur overseas through OEM/private-label arrangements.
One example I researched is Aquaria Technologies, Inc.
Here is what I found from publicly available sources:
1. Aquaria Technologies, Inc. is a U.S.-registered company
Corporate records show Aquaria Technologies, Inc. is registered in Florida, with executives listed as Brian Sheng and Eric Sheng, and an Austin, Texas business address.
Source:
Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz)
2. Import records show a relationship with a Chinese manufacturer
Public trade records identify Shenzhen FND Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. as a supplier to Aquaria Technologies Inc. for water generator products.
Sources:
ImportKey / Volza trade records
3. Shenzhen FND identifies itself as an atmospheric water generator manufacturer
FND’s own materials describe the company as a manufacturer of atmospheric water generation systems and advertise OEM/ODM capabilities.
Source:
Acquarias Water / FND Group
4. FND publicly identifies Aquaria as a U.S. partner/representative
This suggests a business relationship between the two companies.
Source:
Acquarias Water contact information
My question for the community:
Where is the line between a U.S.-based company selling imported products (which is common) and marketing that could create a misleading impression about where a product is manufactured?
Are there examples of FTC enforcement involving appliances, HVAC, water systems, or other products where consumers were given the impression that products were American-made when they were primarily imported?
I am interested in understanding the legal standard and how consumers can verify manufacturing claims.
I have long been fascinated with new and emerging technologies and water. But a new wave of interest is sweeping the US even as drought and water issues shock our nation. One answer to these problems could be water made from air. So, I put on my research hat, and went to work because I wanted to buy one.
Since I live in America’s heartland, I wanted a US Made product. But what I discovered was interesting and a little scary.
While only one company makes systems in the USA, many Chinese companies and manufacturers are trying to carefully pass off products built in China as US built or domestically produced — it’s not true.
One such company is Aquaria. I use them as one of the best marker examples of a China marketing and concealment effort designed to mislead unassuming US customers into thinking what they are purchasing is made in USA.
The total number of China white labels I counted with the help of my AI assistants is about 40 China brands selling in the USA.
[Sources: Aggregated from Chat GPT, google; and other in 2026]
Aquaria Technologies, Inc. — Evidence Summary:
1. U.S. corporate registration
Finding:
Aquaria Technologies, Inc. is registered as a “U.S. corporation.”
Corporate registration information shows:
Entity: Aquaria Technologies, Inc.
State of incorporation: Florida
Entity type: Profit Corporation
Filing date: May 23, 2024
CEO: Brian Sheng
COO: Eric Sheng
Principal business address:
600 Congress Ave.
Austin, Texas 78701
Registered agent:
Brian Sheng
Orlando, Florida
Source: [Florida Division of Corporations — Sunbiz.org]
Observation:
Aquaria is a U.S.-registered company. However, U.S. incorporation does not establish that the products sold by the company are manufactured in the United States. Their website claims to be an Austin based US company. True, but their products are not made in USA.
2. Evidence of Chinese manufacturing relationship
Finding:
Public trade records identify Shenzhen FND Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. as a supplier to Aquaria Technologies Inc.
These records indicate Aquaria imports atmospheric water generation equipment from a Chinese manufacturer on a routine and ongoing basis.
3. Shenzhen FND identifies itself as a Chinese manufacturer of atmospheric water generators
Finding:
Shenzhen FND Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. describes itself as an air and water technology company involved in:
research and development,
production,
sales,
installation,
service of atmospheric water generators.
The company identifies its operations in Shenzhen, China and promotes atmospheric water generator products and OEM/ODM capabilities.
Source: [Acquarias Water / FND Group]
Observation:
FND is not merely a trading company; it presents itself as a manufacturer capable of producing atmospheric water generation equipment.
4. Evidence of an Aquaria–FND business relationship
Finding:
FND publicly identifies Aquaria Technologies, Inc. as an American partner/representative. This information is current as of July 2026.
Source: [Acquarias Water (China) — Contact Information - America]
Observation:
The China relationship or connection is supported from both sides:
FND identifies Aquaria as its U.S. partner.
Import records identify Aquaria as a buyer of FND-manufactured water generators.
These records are public and available with little digging
5. OEM / white-label possibility
Finding:
FND advertises OEM/ODM manufacturing services for atmospheric water generators.
Source: [Acquarias Water — About Us]
Observation:
The documented relationship is consistent with a private-label/OEM business model, where:
A Chinese manufacturer produces equipment.
A U.S. company markets and sells the equipment under its own brand.
This business model is common and is not automatically improper. The key issue is whether marketing claims accurately describe the product’s origin and manufacturing process.
6. Additional evidence of non-US manufacturing:
Finding:
Documented evidence shows:
Aquaria is a U.S.-registered company.
Aquaria imports water generators from Shenzhen FND Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. in China.
FND describes itself as a manufacturer of atmospheric water generators.
FND (located in China) and Aquaria have a documented business relationship with Aquaria.
Aquaria most likely uses the carefully chosen words “Austin based“ company in its advertising in an attempt to mislead customers that its products have a US origin. They hold just short of lying.
Let the Buyer Be Aware!!!
Please share and like. I will continue to post more water related tips and findings as our thirsty world changes!
We all need water. I just don’t want mine made in China any more than I would give my child formula made in China.
I've regretted buying the Crinacle Salnotes Zero:2 "Over Ear" earphones, not only because they were Chinese, but their extreme cost reduction also lead to making one of the worst cables imaginable by excluding the strain relief, which is very useful for avoiding metal fatigue. It broke in 2 weeks, served as the best example for "buy cheap, pay double" saying. So after a long search, I've finally found this product:
there is a cheaper option for €33, you can easily find it here, I'm sure
They also miss a detail where the 2-pin measurement is at 0.78 mm. I've sent a German review in order to try and help with that (needs to pass moderation first).
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going bit off-topic, maybe deserves its own post, maybe even pinned:
I hope this is somehow helpful, for anyone struggling with a similar if not the same situation as mine. I've otherwise seen *apparently* Taiwanese cables which were WAY more expensive.
Buying *used* products from private sellers are otherwise, for any product your best alternative, including chinese products, since you don't finance CCP anymore but as long as the criteria of seller being *private* meets.
I want stay-at-home shorts for the summer, as lightweight as possible. Found ones by Joma, the Drive model ones are perfect for this but they are made in China. It's a shame. Another classic brand capitulating. I am almost about to and buy more of these shorts because they are frankly damn comfy and I don't want to gamble with buying others of the wrong size and material, but im just asking here if anyone knows any similar ones.
Those Toy Story 5 cereal trading cards are "made in Spain" & one of my Niformation ONE PIECE stickers are "made in Japan" & I'm avoiding future products that are "made in China" & I'm disappointed that those "STEEL BALL RUN" notebooks from the "一番くじ (Ichiban Kuji)" champaign in Japan are "made in China" so I'm avoiding them at all costs
