At this point you may be asking, “What do you mean is it possible? All we have to do is stop importing products from other countries, right?” Well, it turns out that it isn’t quite that easy. Sure, Congress can begin sourcing its pens from within the United States instead of China, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that these “homemade” pens are U.S. made.

Even in an object as simple as a ballpoint pen, there are many different components that the manufacturers need to source in order to create the finished product. Plastic pellets used in the injection molding process for the pen’s outer casing may have come from Thailand, the pen’s spring from Malaysia, and the ink from China. Now, imagine the complexity involved in accounting for all the components in a more sophisticated product, like a computer - not so simple.

In the case of The Congressional Made in America Act, which is an amendment to the earlier Buy American Act, only materials and supplies that have been manufactured in the United States “substantially” from U.S. raw materials shall be acquired for the public use. The act’s phrasing is subjective as it does not offer a specific guideline for the percentage of raw material used in a product that must be of U.S. origin nor does it note whether or not the material’s importance to the finished product must be taken into consideration. Even more important for most potential suppliers to U.S. government departments, the act gives no prescription for how companies should go about tracking and documenting the origin of their products, and the supplies used to make those products, and so forth.

In light of this new legislation, the topic of trade compliance strategy should be top-of-mind for all manufacturers hoping to do business with the U.S. government.