I wrote the title this way so it depended on where you're reading it from. So, with the recent news of certain toys (if not most) containing lead paint. Do you think toys (or other things) should be made inside of the country you reside? What things should and shouldn't be made outside of the country? What do you think should be done to help with monitoring imports/exports? How would you feel if everything was made inside of your country? How would you feel if nothing was made inside of your country?

I live in the United States. Personally, I don't think we should have objects made outside of the U.S. because we do not know exactly which company is creating the certain article, what it's made with or how it's made. I think only a minimal amount of things should be made outside of the country. I think that we should have people who actually care about what goes, on in and around our bodies, and not someone who just does a carless inspection and moves on with the next import/export. If everything was made inside of my country I'd know who is making it (if I don't I and groups of concerned citizens can investigate.) If I knew everything was made outside of my country first, I'd be pissed off and emigrate outside of the U.S.

I have no problem with toys being shipped from the outside. It's good for the global economy and Kuwait is too small to build factories and really, no self-respecting Kuwaiti will work in a job like that.

I find your article/view rather offensive. It seems you are of the opinion products made outside of your country is of suspect and/or inferior quality to products made internally. Workers in a foreign land do not care about their products as much as yours.

I like to hear what non-US readers feel about this. Especially from Europe and Japan.

I have no problems with importing toys from other countries, but, I do think that there needs to be a better level of quality control, to prevent the lead paint type situations. Otherwise, what kind of capitalist would I be if I didn't believe in free trade? If Japan can make a better electronic toy than we can in America, why shouldn't I be able to buy it?

i come from belgium, a small country in Europe, and if there couldn't be imported, exported any things, then there wouldn't be any economy. importing/exporting stuff gives a better connection between different countries.

This is why we have international trade laws and agreements. (For example this agreement in China.) Why halt imports, when you could campaign for higher manufacturing standards instead? I'm from Ireland, and contrary to the stereotype, many of the main exports from here are microprocessors and pharmaceuticals. Most of these products are made by Irish people, but they are working for an American company which has chosen Ireland over the US as it's base of operations. (With our better educated workforce and tax incentives.) Those products are made to the standards of the company, which may or may not be regulated by a national or international body.

I find the point of this thread rather unusual, if not offensive. Especially considering one should be attacking the company which makes the products (which may be an American company) and not the 'careless' people of the country which houses the manufacturing facilities. It's clear to me that your issue should be with the companies, and not whichever country manufacture has been outsourced to.

Besides, what you are proposing would collapse the global economy. Elitism is not something which bodes well for business.

Besides, many of the toys recalled for high lead content were Fisher Price toys manufactured in China. Fisher Price of course being an American company. Let's not point the finger at Chinese manufacturers or facilities, the blame does not rest with them.

There are a lot of misconceptions I've been reading from within this thread. I'm not trying to be offensive, but I want to know who you think should be held responsible. What we as citizens should do to help improve our countries from such blunders, with the manufacturing companies, corporations, etc.

I'm all for importing quality goods. I still say we use US steel for buidling things and Japanese steel for the finer need things like cutlery and machine work. Not that we can't make the same quality of steel, we can and have, but we're more geared for a specific thing and the cost to convert would be way more than the benefits.

The issue we have with things like the recent events with China is also our fault for our own lack of quality assurance checks on things we breing in. We need to have the same concerns as we do for embassies and ambassadors that we send to other countries applied to our FDA and other agencies that are responsible for goods coming into the US.

Now, this is not to say that all countries should be suspect. But all things coming here should be under some scrutiny and when tained products are discovered, shipments shut off until things are figured out and fixed. Just like all the countries were doing with the mad cow thing a while back. We've even had countries block some of our goods for a while during that time, but opened things back up after the problem was solved.

I'm not a chocolate type of guy, but you stop bringing in Belgium chocolates to the US and you're going to have a lot of lonely and frustrated men.

Ooh , Troll, good point.

fway, I also don't understand the hostility about imports. I have concerns about lead based paint in toys - I have a small child at home. What stake do YOU have in it, exactly? And your arguments are, to say the least, flawed.

Personally, I don't think we should have objects made outside of the U.S. because we do not know exactly which company is creating the certain article, what it's made with or how it's made.
We still don't know all of that if they're made in the USA. I don't know what company created the T-shirt I'm wearing, but it says Made in the USA. And with foreign-made American brand products (think Mattel) we know WHO makes them. We might know what it's made with or how it's made, but we know the who.

I think only a minimal amount of things should be made outside of the country.
Why do we want to shut down a global economy, again? We're a capitalist country who helped Britain go to war so that China would open up trade, why do we want to slam the door again? Help me out here.

I think that we should have people who actually care about what goes, on in and around our bodies, and not someone who just does a carless inspection and moves on with the next import/export.
So you think that Americans are so good and pure that they're actually concerned about their fellow human being? Wrong. You're naive to think that American businessmen are concerned about you, the consumer. They're concerned about the almighty Dollar. Even if all products were made in the US (not feasible, but let's step out of reality for a moment) that doesn't mean that these businessmen would be concerned about safety. They'd cut corners to save money too. You're putting an awful lot of faith in people whose sole purpose in life is to make money.

If everything was made inside of my country I'd know who is making it (if I don't I and groups of concerned citizens can investigate.)
No, you wouldn't. No one said you'd know whose making it. Sure, you'd know the brand name. But you wouldn't know the names of the people on the assembly line. And do you seriously think that people are going to go around 'investigating' products that they don't care WHO makes them? Are you so concerned that you'd go around investigating products you don't even use? I for one don't use painted glassware, so why do I care who makes it? Again - you're way overestimating the extent of Americans giving a damn. Most people are of the mindset that if it's not happening to me and mine, it doesn't matter anyway.

If I knew everything was made outside of my country first, I'd be pissed off and emigrate outside of the U.S.
Get ready to pack your bags then. Cause America cannot fiscally survive without imports. For example:
~No tires. No imported rubber from Malaysia, thus no tires.
~Minimal technology. The Japanese make a far superior digital product than Americans do. They also have imported the vast majority of electronics.
~Fewer options in automobiles. How many people do you know that drive a Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Volkswagon, Mercedes? All imports, my friend.
~No chocolate. Cacao, like rubber, doesn't grow here. It has to be imported here from South America. Now, I for one cannot live without my chocolate. I just ate a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast.
~No international foods, such as pomegranates, pineapples, or out of season fruit. How do you get apples in the dead of winter? They're grown elsewhere and imported in.

That's just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. There are more, I'm sure.

WE are in part to blame for the Chinese manufacturing malfunctions. As Troll said - we're partially responsible for our own quality checks. The AMERICAN COMPANY did not quality check, so it is PARTIALLY THEIR RESPONSIBILITY. You're so busy putting America on a pedestal that you can't see that it's partially our own fault.

Gothpunk's quote: Besides, many of the toys recalled for high lead content were Fisher Price toys manufactured in China. Fisher Price of course being an American company. Let's not point the finger at Chinese manufacturers or facilities, the blame does not rest with them.
I disagree. I believe it lies at least in part with the manufacturing plant, and in part with FP for not checking up on things. I do agree with your statement that 'Elitism is not something that bodes well for business'. You're very correct on that, as I've said before.

I'm all for trade. I also don;t ahve a lot of problems with a lack of quality. If the consumer is apathetic, what motivation does the business ahve? None. If I owned a multimillion dollar international toy company, and was beholden to a small army of stock holders, I would cut corners at the risk of looking bad to the public rather than do my job properly and look bad to the stockholders. If I lose my job from public outcry, it will happen much much later, and I will still get my sweet severance package. If the stockholders take my job, my severance package is on the line, and tell me, would you do any different?

That is hypothetical of course, i do not own a multimillion dollar toy company (more's the pity) But as long as the stockholders and the board of directors can make thier money, there is no point, for them, the ones that are making the descisions, to provide a safe product.

I personally would prefer a safe product, but it is not my descision to make. If something is to be done, it will be by the government, but they are stockholders,a nd they want thier moolah. So its up to the consumers to not be idiots, and as P.T. Barnum said, "there's a sucker born every minute." Mattel and Fisher Price and the rest are pandering to the suckers, not the educated consumers. If you can get all of the suckers to raise a stink, then you'll see change, but I won't hold my breath for that to happen.

To summarize: Business is motivated by money, and there is more money for the people making descisions to create a bad product. To create change you would have to remove the money. The government won't do it because they are making money off the unsafe products, and the consumers won't force it to happen because they think someone else will. So, oh educated populace, use a little common sense and go with the flow.

China is using her main advantage in her goal to become a major industry power. That is her cheap labor cost. The standard of living in China will improve which will erode her price competitiveness. At that point, she will need to compete on quality. All industrialize nations went through this stage during their own development. What China is going through is no different.

There will always be unscrupulous people cutting cost to increase their profits margins but these people are everywhere. To label China as a whole doing this is unfair.

i dont think anythings got to do with importation i think its quality control thats the problem and with the we should all make stuff in our own countrys thats stupid the econamy would go to pot and smaller countrys would all dissapear we would probably end up with the bigger countrys taking over the smaller ones and no local economys yes the us,japan,russia and most likley the uk would be fine but the rest would suffer terribly we should definatly inspect goods more when they arrive at our countrys and give goods some actual quailty control

The most important thing in my opinion when it comes to imported stuff, is knowing that the workers who made it were fairly paid and not under-aged. Toys made for our kids, made by poor unhappy kids, is not what I want to share with children for Christmas.

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I feel a bit offended as well by this post fway.
In that case you'd better stop wearing clothing (most of those CK jeans and clothes you wear are made in Mexico, Taiwan and China), watching tv and using electrhonics, etc.... you might as well live in the wild because 85% of the stuff you americans use in your everyday lived are made elsewhere because it's cheaper to make it elsewhere than actually making it in your country. You'd better pack your backs and get out of the US then, becuase even if it's an american idea, you guys are mostly too lazy to get up and do it yourselves, understandable too, who would want to build a factory for x product if there's one readily available elsewhere?

for example: if i had your mentality, I wouldn't be using an HP laptop, driving a jeep liberty or working for an importer/exporter of mexican-made inflatable games... meaning I wouldn't have internet access, I'd be stuck taking the bus and wouldn't have a well-remunerating job.


I'm pro-exporting and importing of goods. Globalization in this point is great. I don't mind if my stuff is made elsewhere, as long as it works, fits or tastes good and isn't perjudicial to my health or well-being.

for me importing and exporting isn't the real problem. the problem is greedy companies that try to cut corners just to save an extra buck and the result of this? we end up with toys painted with lead paint, shoddy electronics, injuries and mayhem. Not to mention quality control and health inspectors who have been bribed by said companies... *le-gasp*!

I'm from Croatia, a rather small country in Europe. Here, a chance to buy something that is NOT from China is minimal...
Everything is imported from China, people even started to make jokes from that...
Croatian industry, as weak as it is, is getting even weaker with big foreign companies making their products in China and other Asian countries (mostly in China) and then importing them here...
I have nothing against importing, but if the products' quality is checked...
But big companies save a lot of money on quality checks (and wages), which means that we can't be sure in the products' quality...
Eventually, I would really like things to improve, at least the quality of imported products, and to see something more than just chocolate with a sign: Made in Croatia