In 2021, the United States imported over $506 billion worth of goods from China, which constituted over 18% of all imported goods. We also import a high volume of goods from Mexico, Canada, South Korea, India, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
A few negative impacts of such high importation rates are (1) reduction of domestic manufacturing jobs; (2) exploitation of vulnerable people; (3) increased greenhouse gas emissions; and (4) a growing trade deficit, which soared to an all-time high of $859 billion (yes, BILLION) in 2021, over 40% of which is owed to China.
This is why Hot Tots’ garments are made right here in the good ole United States of America.
There is a fascinating - and free! - website called ImportYeti where you can search your favorite companies and see where their goods come from. Go ahead - check it out. We will wait.
Incredible, right? This has always been publicly available information if you knew where to find it, but this website has done a great job of making it accessible and easily digestible. Since we are not interested in smearing other companies, we have omitted the names, but below are screenshots of the recent importation activities of four of the larger retailers of swim suits and UPF clothing.
Notice any trends? As consumers, we must educate ourselves about how we spend our money. In order to do that, companies must be more transparent about their supply chains, but since most will not do it willingly, ImportYeti is here to help.