Fact Check: Is Trump a hypocrite with his Made in America week?

Donald Trump kicked off Made in America week by showcasing cowboy hats, tractors and goods made in the US, but it was his own business practices that came under the spotlight.

Plagued by the inquiry into his team's links with Russia and a low approval rating, the initiative was meant to highlight the economic issues that matter to his supporters, Reuters reports.

"We want to build, create and grow more products in our country using American labour, American goods and American grit," he said launching the week. "Remember in the old days, they used to have, 'Made in the USA'?... We're going to put that brand on our product because it means it's the best."

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However, instead of shifting the narrative away from his troubles, the event renewed focus on the former businessman's hiring practices and company products, many of which are manufactured overseas.

"Trump's 'Made in America' spin manufactured in fantasyland," read one of the many headlines.

The truth about manufacturing in the US

Manufacturing is the biggest contributor to the US economy, CBS reports. Its factories made $5.3trn (£4.08trn) worth of products in 2016, almost a third of the nation's GDP and dwarfing the finance and real estate sectors. According to the most recent government figures available, oil refining contributed $462bn (£355bn) in 2015, followed by truck and utility vehicle manufacturing and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Some 7.73 per cent of workers are employed in manufacturing, most prominently in Wisconsin and Indiana, where there are more than 7,500 manufacturing jobs per 100,000 residents, followed by Iowa, according to the US Bureau of Labour statistics.

How did the media react?

Despite having a US manufacturing success story to tell this week, Trump's own tale was too tempting for US media observers to ignore.

"Perhaps this is a brilliant ruse to obscure the fact that virtually none of [his products] are actually - well, you know - made in America," said USA Today. "Or perhaps it is an oversight that will only cast more light on the aforementioned outsourcing. With President Trump, you never know."

Writing in the Washington Post, Sarah Posner said the event was a "hypocritical joke".

When the President "excoriates American companies for moving manufacturing jobs overseas, then, he is including himself in his own criticism - but of course would never admit that", she wrote.

The event didn't escape the glare of the late-night comedians neither. Stephen Colbert suggested Made in America had been staged to distract from the fact Trump's campaign "was made in Russia".

The President's supporters, however, don't seem to care, says the Posts's Posner, highlighting a poll showing 84 per cent of Republicans approve of how Trump is handling the economy.

"The stagecraft on its face is sufficient for his voters to believe he is indeed making America great," she says.

Where are Trump's products made?

In his inaugural address, Trump exhorted US companies to "buy American and hire American", but has acknowledged that much of his own merchandise is manufactured abroad.

Separate investigations by the Washington Post's Fact Checker, Buzzfeed News and Politifact have revealed that his company relies heavily on foreign labour in Asia.

"We found that many Trump items are made in China, including cufflinks, sport coats, shirts, eyeglasses, lamps and mirrors," says Politifact. "It's impossible to get an exact read on what percentage of items are from China, because many items don't disclose their exact origin."

Other clothing items from the Donald J Trump Collection have been traced back to Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Honduras and South Korea. His chain of hotels sources nearly all of its toiletries - including shampoo, body wash, moisturisers, and bath towels - from China.

"BuzzFeed ordered a suit that was listed as both 'imported' and 'Made in USA' — and ended up with a label showing the suits were made in Indonesia," the Post reports.

The paper also found that Ivanka Trump's company relies "exclusively on foreign factories" to manufacture her clothing and footwear products.

Nevertheless, while the bulk of Trump's apparel appears to have been produced overseas, some items do bear the Made in America label, including his red baseball caps, golf bags and cologne.

What does Trump say?

Trump says his company buys US-made products when it can, but that it is "impossible" for US businesses to compete with countries such as China.

"They manipulate their currency and they make it impossible for our companies to compete," he said during last year's presidential campaign.

"So, when they make it impossible to compete, it's like, you go and you have to buy elsewhere."

White House press secretary Sean Spicer also defended Ivanka Trump's business model this week. "In terms of scalability, there are certain things that we may not have the capacity to do here in terms of having a plant or a factory that can do it," he said.

Nor, as the New York Times says, are the Trump family's businesses the only ones taking advantage of lower wages and manufacturing costs outside of the US. Nearly all of the clothing bought in the States - 97 per cent of apparel and 98 per cent of shoes - is made abroad.

"In retail, where margins are slim, overseas manufacturers are crucial to profits," the paper says.

So does Trump deserve to be criticised?

It's difficult to calculate exactly what proportion of Trump merchandise is made outside the US, but the majority is clearly outsourced overseas in order to lower costs.

By doing so, Trump is putting profits above American jobs and contradicting the key economic principles he has championed.