Bipartisan push for FTC investigation of Amazon and Walmart over 'Made in USA' fraud

Senators Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., sent a letter Thursday to the chairman and a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding alleged anticompetitive practices by Walmart and Amazon with “Made in the USA” products. 

“We write to request that the Federal Trade Commission … investigate alleged anticompetitive practices by Amazon and Walmart involving suppression of Made in the USA products when customers use their AI shopping chatbots,” the senators wrote. “As well the companies’ apparent failure to report products fraudulently labeled Made in the USA.”

“As two of the largest retail companies in the world, Amazon and Walmart’s potential noncompliance with federal standards and their explicit promotion of overseas and potentially fraudulent sellers on their online marketplaces and through their AI shopping chatbots is deeply concerning,” they continued.

The senators cited a study from researchers at Columbia Law School’s Center for Law and the Economy that found that Amazon and Walmart “have the technical capability to detect and flag ‘Made in USA’ fraud” but “the companies choose not to police this fraud—and in many cases allow these deceptive claims to persist,” according to The Hill. 

“Following a robust investigation, we strongly encourage the Commission to consider additional enforcement measures to deter such behavior going forward,” Baldwin and Scott wrote. 

They added that they believed “consumers who seek out Made in the USA products should be able to rely on accurate country-of-origin information when making purchasing decisions.”

“New technologies such as AI shopping chatbots must preserve that fairness,” Scott and Baldwin wrote.

The FTC and President Trump have taken actions this year targeting companies that have fraudulently used the “Made in USA” label.

President Trump signed a March executive order that cracked down on such false claims advertised on the digital marketplace or by foreign manufacturers and sellers.