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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

If products were made in the United States, would the US cargo ship backlog not matter?

By Christiana Dillard
NO

While the dollar amount of U.S. imports is higher than for exports, a social media post's premise that products are not made in the U.S. is not true. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, manufacturing is the country's fifth-largest employment sector with 12.1 million workers who produce goods for domestic use and export.

The U.S. is also the world's second-largest exporter of goods originating the U.S.

The cargo ship backlog that continued into October 2021 concerned not just finished products coming in. Materials used to manufacture products at American factories are imported into the country as well.

At the Port of Los Angeles -- North America's busiest container port -- top containerized imports in 2020 were products to be used in manufacturing others: auto parts and plastics were the second and fifth imports, respectively. The port's top containerized exports included scrap metal and fabric/raw cotton.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
US Trade Representative Countries and regions
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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