February 22, 2014
Any American flag purchased by the US Defense Department from now on will be legally required to have been made in the United States.
The new law, which goes into effect on Friday, is an apparent attempt to curtail flag purchases from China, which spiked following the demand generated by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York.
The new policy first passed last month as part of the $1.1 trillion omnibus appropriations bill, which funded the government through September 30, but the flag stipulation officially became law on Friday.
American flags have always been produced inside the US, but businesses have saved significant amounts of money by ordering them from China – a trend that became especially popular when the demand for flags increased after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Representative Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), who is running for a ninth term in Congress, said Friday that he was surprised the policy was not already a law.
“I thought it was appalling our Department of Defense would have flags made in other countries,” he said. “But it’s also important because we need to be making more in America.”