63 Percent of Americans Want Government to Buy US-Made Goods, Even at Higher Cost: Poll

Photo of Sonja Person working at the manufacturing facility at Holly Springs Seqirus in North Carolina on May 14–15, 2018. Courtesy of Seqirus

A recent poll found that 63 percent of Americans want the government to buy goods made in the United States—even at a significantly higher cost.

The Reuters-Ipsos poll, which was released on March 30, also showed that while 69 percent of U.S. respondents believe that buying “made in America” goods is at least somewhat important, 37 percent would not be willing to pay extra for it out of their own pockets.

Twenty-six percent would only pay 5 percent more, while 21 percent said they would, at most, be willing to pay an extra 10 percent.

The findings are in line with a similar poll conducted in May last year that showed that 70 percent of respondents felt that goods made in the United States were somewhat or very important, while 38 percent said they wouldn’t be willing to pay more for U.S.-made goods. In last year’s poll, the same percentages of respondents as this year said they would be willing to pay a 5 percent and 10 percent premium for American-made products.

The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, comes a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw medical equipment shortages that exposed the drawbacks of U.S. dependency on foreign supply chains.

Former President Donald Trump pursued vigorous policies that would reshore supply chains and bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, as well as reduce U.S. dependency on imported goods, including by signing an executive order last year to boost U.S. production of critical minerals.

President Joe Biden has also taken action under the “made in America” banner, including signing an executive order that seeks to increase purchases of products made in the United States, chiefly by tightening rules around federal procurement and giving the government a bigger role in supporting U.S. businesses.

More recently, Biden signed an executive order on America’s supply chains, which includes a call on government agencies to conduct 100-day reviews of supply chains, including identification of risks and vulnerabilities.

The order also calls for sectoral reviews to be completed within one year for defense, information communications technology, energy, transportation, food production, and public health and biological preparedness.

The move also aims to boost manufacturing jobs by strengthening U.S. supply chains for critical goods—advanced batteries, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals, and semiconductors.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 12.2 million manufacturing jobs in the United States, down from 17 million in 2000.