As the United States presidential election enters its final stages, more and more voters are expressing their support for their favorite candidate by wearing campaign merchandise.

What they may not realize is that the Trump hat that says “Make America Great Again” or the T-shirt that says “Childless Cat Lady for Harris” that they are wearing may have been made in China.

Using e-commerce platforms, Chinese retailers are flooding the U.S. election goods market with cheap goods. Anecdotal evidence suggests that U.S. manufacturers of these products are struggling to compete.

“I think the amount of stuff on Amazon and Etsy coming from China and other countries in cargo ships and being unloaded on American shores is drastically impacting the ability of American manufacturers like me to compete and grow our own businesses “I think it's dramatic,” said Ben Waxman, founder and co-owner of American Roots, an American clothing company.

For privacy reasons, Waxman wouldn't share production or profit numbers with VOA Mandarin Service, but said its U.S.-made campaign T-shirts, for example, sell for about $15 a piece, while the Chinese online retailer's T-shirts Temu can be sold for around $15 and can start from $3.

“It’s more expensive to pay higher wages and living wages and adhere to environmental standards,” Waxman said, citing longstanding criticism of China’s manufacturing practices.

His unionized company has been producing campaign merchandise for presidential candidates since 2016, primarily T-shirts and sweatshirts, with all raw materials and production occurring in the United States

Flood the market

VOA Mandarin Service was unable to determine overall sales figures for election items made in America compared to items made in China. But the large number of Chinese election products available for sale on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and eBay shows that they are flooding the market.

On Temu alone, tens of thousands of election items were sold at a fraction of the price of the official campaign versions.

Among them, a “Make America Great Again” hat costs less than $4, while the official Trump campaign store website, which boasts “All products made in the USA,” has them at ten times the price at $40 each Piece sold.

Likewise, Temu's “Kamala Harris 2024” hats can be sold for less than $3 each, while the official Kamala Harris campaign store website sells “Kamala” hats for $47 each.

The Harris campaign also pledged to sell only American-made products on its official websites.

VOA reached out to both campaigns for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

The stark price difference highlights the challenges the U.S. faces in reducing its dependence on Chinese products and closing a trade gap, the so-called de minimis gap, that allows Chinese companies to sell goods worth of less than $800 to ship to the USA without paying import duties.

Kim Glas, president and CEO of the National Council of Textile Organizations, a trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, said abuse of the de minimis rule was widespread, adding that her group “lost 21 manufacturing plants in the last 18 months has”.

Glas said some of the NCTO member manufacturers have noted that sales of campaign products have been slower this year than in any previous U.S. election cycle.

VOA Mandarin reached out to Amazon and eBay for comment on the volume of presidential campaign items imported from China on their websites and Chinese vendors' regulations, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Temu did not comment on U.S. election product sales, but the company's spokesperson responded in an email to VOA Mandarin: “Temu's growth does not depend on de minimis policies. The key reasons for our rapid expansion and market adoption are the supply chain efficiency and operational capabilities we have developed over the years.”

The spokesperson added: “We are open to and support any policy adjustments made by lawmakers that are consistent with consumer interests.”

U.S. textile industry officials note the irony that the two U.S. presidential candidates are harshly denouncing trade with China while their own supporters are buying Chinese-made products to show their support for them.

“If someone supports a candidate because of that candidate's economic policies and his stance on improving our economy, our environment, and improving our working conditions, and achieves this by increasing the level of domestic production, then he is supporting a candidate by…” If they have a product “If you buy something made in a country that represents the opposite, you're doing yourself, the candidate and the economy a disservice,” said Mitch Cahn, president of Unionwear, a New York-based clothing company that has served more than 300,000 Baseball caps for Harris' campaign.

“Anyone can make the product”

Cahn points out that anyone can produce campaign products because campaigns do not control their intellectual property. They think, “It’s more valuable to them to have someone wearing the campaign name on their head than to make money selling the goods.”

“If everyone can make and sell the product, a lot of products will end up being made in China because there just aren’t many manufacturers here,” he told VOA Mandarin.

The Associated Press reported on October 18 that thousands of Donald Trump's “God Bless America” ​​Bibles were printed in China. The AP also found that most Bibles, not just the one supported by Trump, are made in China.

Critics point out that the revelation could undermine Trump's promotion of “Made in the USA” products.

“In past (election) years, this would have been a scandal,” said Marc Zdanow, political consultant and CEO of Engage Voters US. “I think Trump voters just don’t care. … I think the question is whether or not this gets to the top for those voters who are still undecided. This issue could certainly be enough to push this group away from Trump.”

Chris Tang, a professor of business administration and global management at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, told VOA Mandarin that the impact of Chinese-made goods on the U.S. economy is not just due to the unilateral loss of manufacturing jobs. Consumers also get these products at affordable prices.

“While there are job losses in the manufacturing sector, there is an opportunity for small businesses to import small quantities quickly by using (Chinese online sellers like) Alibaba to find suppliers that can quickly produce elective items and sell them quickly online .”

Tang said the U.S. should develop a manufacturing sector that focuses on high-quality products rather than cheap products like U.S. election items.