A predecessor of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, commonly referred to as "the Stimulus" or the "Recovery Act") is the Buy American Act which was passed in 1933 by Congress and signed into law by President Roosevelt. It was intended for the US government to prefer US-made products in its purchases and that preference could be waived if foreign-made products were cheaper.
While the US is still the largest manufacturing economy in the world, at least in 2010, with $1.7 trillion in manufacturing value compared with China's $1.3 trillion, that gap is closing quickly. Quite a lot of products are still made here, though largely durable goods such as household appliances, vehicles, electronic components, industrial machined parts, as well as goods that are too costly to produce overseas and ship back to the US for domestic consumption like pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, and cosmetics. Probably one of the more challenging things to find in the US is a gift for hosts when visiting China.
A word of caution that not everything sold at a "buy local" branded retail store (e.g., Made in Oregon) has locally made goods in it.
Read more?
"Buy American is Un-American" by Harry Binswanger, Ph.D.
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