
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 23, 1995                   TAG: 9507250021
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: G-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LABELING

TIME WAS when free traders and protectionists alike at least could agree that an American-made product was one, well, made in America, and a foreign product was one, well, made in another country and imported into the United States for the market here.

These days, the distinction grows ever more amibiguous between domestic- and foreign-produced goods.

Consider, for example, New Balance athletic shoes. Their manufacturer is being sued by the Federal Trade Commission for claiming that the shoes are American-made. Not so, says the FTC: About 30 percent of the shoes' components are actually from overseas.

That's acknowledged by New Balance. But the only reason, say company officials, is that no rubber is grown in North America. Unlike some shoe companies, New Balance hasn't exported any manufacturing jobs to places overseas with cheaper labor. The company has no choice, though, but to import the rubber soles and midsoles.

The New Balance dispute, and a similar FTC suit against New Balance competitor Saucony, have been deferred so the regulators can re-examine the rule requiring "virtually all" of a product be made in America to qualify for the "Made in the U.S.A." label.

Elsewhere in the federal government, reports The Christian Science Monitor, a wide range of standards - just 50 percent for U.S. Customs, for example - have been adopted to define how much of a product must be made domestically to qualify as a domestic product. Labeling standards vary not only from agency to agency but also from industry to industry.

Nor is product content the whole story. The export and import of service-sector work, for example, is a growing part of international trade. The shareholding owners of a widely traded company might live anywhere in the world.

Protectionism is generally bad policy, its harm to the overall economy greater than whatever aid it provides specific industries. Now, the growth of the global market, with products and services frequently produced in many different countries, may be making protectionism not only unwise but downright impossible.

by CNB