Made in USA Claims: An FTC Guide for E-commerce Brands

"Made in USA" is one of the most valuable claims an e-commerce brand can make, and one of the most heavily policed. The Federal Trade Commission treats it as a specific, testable claim, and since 2021 it has had a rule that lets it seek civil penalties for false Made in USA labels.

This guide covers what the standard requires, how enforcement has played out in 2025 and 2026, and the places online stores commonly get it wrong.

The standard: "all or virtually all"

An unqualified Made in USA claim, whether on a label, product page, ad or social post, means the product is "all or virtually all" made in the United States. Under the FTC's guidance, that generally means:

Final assembly or processing happens in the U.S.
All significant processing happens in the U.S.
All or virtually all ingredients or components are made and sourced in the U.S., with only negligible foreign content.

To judge "negligible," the FTC looks at the share of manufacturing cost that is foreign, how far removed the foreign content is from the finished product, and how important it is to the product's form or function. A cheap imported part can still matter if the product does not work without it. Brands can generally rely on good-faith supplier certifications, but the FTC suggests asking suppliers for specifics, and the claim has to be updated if sourcing changes.

Implied claims count too

You do not have to write the words "Made in USA" to make the claim. According to the FTC, a U.S. flag, a map outline, or references to an American factory or headquarters can convey U.S. origin on their own or combined with other content. Phrases like "American-made" or "crafted in America" are unqualified origin claims under the labeling rule. An American brand name alone generally is not, unless the name itself signals U.S. origin.

Qualified claims, "Assembled in USA" and "Designed in USA"

If a product does not meet the standard, there are accurate alternatives, but each has its own conditions:

Qualified claims such as "Made in USA of U.S. and imported parts" or "60% U.S. content" should be used only when the product has significant U.S. content or processing. Qualifiers can still overstate domestic content.
"Assembled in USA" is appropriate only when principal assembly takes place in the U.S., that assembly is substantial, and the product's last substantial transformation happened here. Screwing together imported parts usually does not qualify.
"Designed in USA" refers to one step, not the whole product. If the item was made abroad, Customs country-of-origin marking rules still apply.

The FTC's own example: a treadmill assembled in the U.S. from mostly imported major parts, with U.S. parts at about 3 percent of parts cost. Calling it "Made in USA of U.S. and Imported Parts" would be deceptive. "Assembled in U.S.A." or "Made in U.S. from Imported Parts" would not.

The Made in USA Labeling Rule

The FTC finalized the Made in USA Labeling Rule (16 CFR Part 323) in July 2021, and it took effect on August 13, 2021. It codifies the "all or virtually all" standard for labels, and it also covers mail order and online sales materials that carry a Made in USA seal, mark, tag or stamp. Claims elsewhere in marketing, including websites, email and social media, are still governed by Section 5 of the FTC Act and the FTC's policy statement on U.S. origin claims.

The practical difference is money. Because the rule is a trade regulation rule, the FTC can seek civil penalties for violations. The maximum is $53,088 per violation. That figure was set in January 2025, and the FTC confirmed in September 2026 that the 2025 levels stay in place for 2026 because the 2026 inflation adjustment was cancelled.

What enforcement looks like now

Made in USA claims have been an explicit priority for the current FTC:

July 2025. The FTC sent letters to Amazon and Walmart identifying third-party sellers that may have been making deceptive U.S. origin claims on their marketplaces, along with warning letters to four companies.
March 2026. An executive order on truthful advertising of products claiming to be made in America directed the FTC to prioritize enforcement against false claims.
April 2026. The FTC announced three settlements under the labeling rule. TouchTunes agreed to $625,000 in consumer redress over electronic dartboards the FTC said contained imported chips, cameras and monitors. A flag seller and its principals agreed to $167,743, and Oak Street Bootmakers agreed to $75,000 over footwear the FTC said used uppers from the Dominican Republic and outsoles from Brazil. Two other companies received closing letters after agreeing to fix their claims.
July 2026. The FTC sent another round of warning letters to companies whose products, it said, appeared to be imported in whole or in significant part.

The pattern is consistent: final assembly in the U.S. does not make a product "Made in USA" if the important parts come from abroad.

A live example: the Trump Mobile T1 phone

The Trump Mobile T1 phone shows how an origin claim can linger after a company changes its message. When the phone was announced in June 2025, Trump Mobile marketed it as made in the USA and soon walked that back. In May 2026, The Verge reported that the company now describes the T1 as assembled in the U.S., yet the meta title of the website's Phones page still called it an "American-Made" smartphone. That text is not visible on the page itself, but it appears in browser tabs and search results. The Verge said the phrase was likely out of line with FTC rules and that Trump Mobile did not respond to its request for comment.

Separately, in January 2026, 11 Democratic lawmakers led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Robert Garcia asked the FTC whether it was investigating the company's advertising, according to NBC News. The company did not respond to NBC's request for comment. As of this writing, we found no public FTC action against the company. The allegations are unresolved, and the example is useful mainly as a reminder of where old claims hide.

Where e-commerce stores commonly slip

SEO fields. Meta titles, meta descriptions, image alt text and structured product data show up in search results and shopping ads. If the product page was corrected but the SEO title was not, the claim is still out there.
Old pages and campaigns. Archived blog posts, landing pages, press releases and email templates keep origin claims alive after sourcing changes.
Marketplace and retailer listings. Amazon, Walmart and wholesale partners often copy your original description. The FTC's 2025 marketplace letters show it is looking there.
Flags and imagery. A flag badge on every product tile can imply U.S. origin for products that are imported.
Variant drift. One SKU may be U.S.-made while a new color or size comes from a different factory. A store-wide "Made in USA" banner then becomes wrong for part of the catalog.
Supplier changes. Sourcing shifts quietly. Without a process to recheck origin claims when a supplier changes, a once-true claim can become false.

A short review checklist

Inventory every place origin claims appear: labels, product pages, SEO fields, feeds, ads, emails, social posts and marketplace listings.
For each product, keep a file showing where final assembly happens and where significant components come from, with supplier certifications.
Use qualified or "Assembled in USA" wording where the product does not meet the full standard, and check it against the FTC's conditions.
Recheck claims whenever a supplier, factory or component changes.
Talk to counsel before launching a U.S. origin campaign, especially for electronics and other products with imported components.

Where NutriCove fits

NutriCove builds e-commerce stores and runs email and SMS flows and growth retainers for brands. Product pages, SEO titles and automated emails all carry claims, so they are part of any origin-claim review. If you're rebuilding a store or cleaning up product content, see how we build e-commerce stores.

Sources

This article is general information, not legal or medical advice. Talk to a qualified attorney or licensed professional about your situation.