What do your car, clothes and kids’ toys have in common?
The American companies that make them are losing jobs and revenue to the growing problem of counterfeiting and intellectual property theft. Now, industry organizations are urging President-elect Donald Trump to take action in the early days of his administration.
A group of 15 associations representing millions of American workers recently sent a letter to Trump to recognize his commitment to protecting American businesses and consumers by cracking down on the illicit trafficking of counterfeit goods and protecting IP.
“It is a cross-industry effort,” said Jennifer Hanks of the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA). “From water filters to personal-care products to apparel footwear, you name it, law enforcement has said that ‘if it can be made, it can be counterfeited,’ and so, it is something that is a cross-industry concern.”
The letter applauds previous Trump actions, including the 2019 Memorandum on Combating Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods. That resulted in the interagency report issued by the Department of Homeland Security, developed because “illicit activity impacts American innovation and erodes the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers and workers.”
In addition to the AAFA, the letter is signed by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association and the Toy Association, among others.
They asked Trump to appoint tough-on-counterfeiting-crime officials to key administration positions and to convene an Interagency Working Group to Fight Against Illicit Trade, Protect IP, and Eradicate Counterfeits within the first 100 days.
They are also pushing for the passage of the Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-commerce, or SHOP Safe Act. The bipartisan measure “incentivizes online marketplaces to improve their ability to detect and stop counterfeit goods” by shielding online marketplaces from civil liability provided they comply with anti-counterfeiting measures, do a better job of vetting third-party sellers, and be upfront with consumers about where products originated.
Representatives Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Ben Cline, R-Va., and Hank Johnson, D-Ga., are backing the legislation.
“For far too long and for no acceptable reason, millions of American consumers have been ripped off by purchasing fake, illegal and unsafe counterfeit products sold on online marketplaces,” Issa said in a press release.
Business advocates argue that protecting U.S. intellectual property and cracking down on counterfeiting is a two-fer for Trump and his America First policies. It protects American workers and industries from unfair foreign actions, and it also boosts the U.S. economy.
According to the National Association of Manufacturers, fake and counterfeit products cost the United States $131 billion and 325,000 jobs in 2019 alone. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported seizing $2.7 billion in goods in 2023, more than 65 percent from China.
And, Hanks said, failing to confront counterfeiting and IP theft will make the problems worse.\
“There is no doubt about it. We are already seeing growing problems given that platforms have not been at the table to solve this with rights holders. So, it’s not just the counterfeit products, it has ballooned into an even larger issue for consumers.”
