NC And American Flags Should Be Made In US, Legislators Say In Unanimous Vote

By Brianna Kraemer
Carolina Journal

North Carolina and American flags purchased by the state government using taxpayer dollars should be 100% made in America, the North Carolina House indicated in a unanimous vote on Tuesday.

All 113 present members voted in favor of House Bill 227, which prohibits state institutions from using public funds to purchase the American flag or the North Carolina state flag unless the flags are made in the United States.

The flag must be 100% manufactured in the United States from materials 100% produced or grown in the United States.

“What this means is the flags that we buy in North Carolina will be made in North Carolina, and if we buy US flags, they will be made in the United States of America,” said bill sponsor Rep. Edward Goodwin, R-Chowan. “I don’t think anybody should say no.”

The bill is also sponsored by Reps. Allen Chesser, R-Nash, Dennis Riddell, R-Alamance, and Charles Smith, D-Cumberland.

The vast majority of American flags, about 94%, are manufactured in the United States. According to reports, the U.S. imported roughly 10 million American flags in 2017, of which 99.5% of them came from China.

The All-American Flag Act passed Congress in 2024, requiring the federal government to now exclusively buy flags that are produced entirely with American-made materials and manufactured completely in the United States.

United States law requires that every flag be labeled with the country of origin, though issues have risen over mislabeling. Members of Congress, including US Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-05, expressed concern to the Federal Trade Commission in November 2024 over companies based in China falsely labeling their flags as “Made in the USA.”