In June, I posted that I was raising my “Made in USA” consciousness by supporting USA manufacturing more than I had been. In that post, one of the USA made items that I noted having purchased was a Heritage Steel fry pan and lid. The set was more expensive than most competing sets manufactured in other countries. As of two days ago, the set became even more expensive due to tariffs.
I highly recommend reading: Steel and Aluminum Tariff Impacts on the Cookware Industry. The article explains the impact of tariffs and the sorry state of the USA metals industry and manufacturing base that led us to this point.
In addition to increasing my support of USA manufacturing, I have raised my consciousness of supporting USA agriculture.
As I perused olive oil labels in the grocery store the other day, the bottles of oil were from all over the place. Some labels obscured the source of the oils beyond recognition. As for me and my house, we are buying California Olive Ranch olive oil. They offer product from various corners of the world. However, they sell olive oil clearly labeled as being 100% a product of California, and that’s what we buy.
Tariffs are a government attempt at a solution to what we as Americans have done to ourselves under the euphemistic banner of free trade. We’ll see how tariffs play out. I’m a believer in personal responsibility, and I am a patriot. What can I personally do to support American manufacturing and agriculture? Step one is to raise my “Made in USA” consciousness. I cannot and will not be buying only American products. However, I consciously will be seeking out USA made products and working more and more of them into my mix of purchases.
With Love,
P. Gustav Mueller, author of The Present