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This 2018 Reuters story on reuters.com says:

The red, white and blue banners for U.S. President Donald Trump’s second-term campaign are ready to ship, emblazoned with the words “Keep America Great!”

But they are made in eastern China and soon could be hit by punitive tariffs of Trump’s own making as he ratchets up a rancorous trade dispute with Beijing.

At the Jiahao Flag Co Ltd in Anhui province, women operate sewing machines to hem the edges of “Trump 2020” flags the size of beach towels, while others fold and bundle them for delivery.

The factory has turned out about 90,000 banners since March, said manager Yao Yuanyuan, an unusually large number for what is normally the low season, and Yao believed the China-U.S. trade war was the reason.

Is it true that the Trump campaign was having campaign banners made in China?

Oddthinking
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Daniel R Hicks
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    are you asking specifically about the campaign, because I found many banners that are pro-trump that are made in China. – tuskiomi Apr 30 '20 at 00:59
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    @tuskiomi - The article says "for U.S. President Donald Trump’s second-term campaign", but admittedly that's a bit ambiguous. – Daniel R Hicks Apr 30 '20 at 01:10
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    But would this be surprising? What doesn’t come from China? I know I’ve seen Fourth of July stuff that’s clearly marked as made in China. – Laurel Apr 30 '20 at 01:10
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    @tuskiomi: Please add references, and make this an answer, not a comment. – Oddthinking Apr 30 '20 at 04:04
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    @Laurel Yes, it would be, since apparently this lie started 5 years ago and just won't die. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/donald-trump-hat-china/ "Reuters: one of the last standing, now finally gone, RIP". Trump's campaign uses American-made swag, as I suspect all candidates strive for. –  Apr 30 '20 at 05:41
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    This seems to be addressed by [PolitiFact](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/feb/15/viral-image/yes-trump-re-election-banners-are-being-made-china/), [FactCheck.org](https://www.factcheck.org/2018/07/are-trump-2020-banners-made-in-china/) and [Snopes](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-2020-flags-china/). – Rebecca J. Stones Apr 30 '20 at 08:15

1 Answers1

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The Official Trump Campaign Store does not sell banners, nor has ever sold banners pertaining to the 2020 election. There are, however, sign posts with the described design.

According to the FAQ "All of our products are 100% proudly made in the USA."

Now, If you're talking about all merchandise, the company that bought the rights to print Donald Trump campaign related products (cups, flags, banners) is the NINGBO HAISHU GARRON HOUSEWARE CO. who is Chinese. In the US, they operate under the Trademark Homissor, and have imported around 1.4 million in political merchandise. That said, this company is printing the apparel independently of the party, and has merely purchased the copyright, and even copyright purchase is dubious as not 'Donald J. Trump' nor the slogan "Keep America Great" are copyrightable works.

odd thinking points out that this may be a trademark issue, and indeed there is a trademark for the slogan "KEEP AMERICA GREAT!". There are, however, 2 more trademarks for the same exact phrase that are legally enforceable as of today (4/30/2020) (tm nos 87976064, 87315890), and 2 more that have been labelled as abandoned (tm nos 87448590, 87829000), along with 9 more records for a trademark without the exclamation point (eg: "KEEP AMERICA GREAT"), with an additional four records which have "2020" somewhere in the phrase. Needless to say, it would be difficult to enforce a trademark.

tuskiomi
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    You say "Keep America Great" is not copyrightable. Could you provide a source for that, because that is not obvious. In any case, it is likely a trademark issue, not a a copyright issue. There are many trademarks on "Keep america great" and variations (See [TESS](http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchstr&state=4807:45ekt.3.1) for details.) – Oddthinking Apr 30 '20 at 05:27
  • @Oddthinking it's in the FAQ of [Copyright.gov](https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html)... "Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases." – tuskiomi Apr 30 '20 at 05:29
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    @Oddthinking I dug a bit into the idea of it being a trademark, it was a good call. – tuskiomi Apr 30 '20 at 05:43
  • As I read the question, the campaign store is not relevant; I think the question is asking about banners used by the campaign, not banners sold by the campaign. – David Conrad May 12 '20 at 17:22
  • @DavidConrad OP said themselves that it's ambiguous. The later statement about internal use is a wild goose chase, and likely would not be on topic – tuskiomi May 13 '20 at 22:38