WORTH, Mich.—Since unanimously approving a resolution a few weeks ago to immediately stop purchasing products made in China, officials in a southeastern Michigan township are taking steps to put some teeth in the new policy.
“We have designated a member of the board of trustees to diligently search the market for American-made alternatives to Chinese products. Chinese goods are so prevalent, it takes a lot of hard work to find something that is made in the U.S.A., or even made in friendly foreign countries. Worth Township is committed to making that effort," Worth Township Supervisor Walt Badgerow told The Epoch Times.
The resolution states that the COVID-19 pandemic “has put this country in great peril and has magnified the need to purchase products that are manufactured in the U.S.A. and not in foreign lands, especially the country of China.” It directs the township to only purchase products made in China when it is determined upon extensive research, that a comparable product is not manufactured in the United States of America, or other country.”
The resolution also directs all of the township’s departments to “extend preferential purchasing for products made in the United States of America.”
“At first, we were concerned mostly with purchases of paper, office supplies, and small electronic devices. Our township buys a lot of paper made in China. This at a time when a major paper mill in nearby Port Huron is closing, costing a couple hundred American jobs. But economics and trade aside, it is disgusting to read reports of the CCP’s [Chinese Communist Party] abuse of political dissidents.
“Unjust imprisonment, torture, and even organ harvesting are outrageous abuses. They have 2 million people working in slave-labor camps making products sold to America.”
When asked if he was anti-Chinese, a term the CCP often uses against those who criticize it, Badgerow denied the label.
“No! But I am anti-communist. I am against the gang of CCP criminals that are trying to take over the world,” he said.
Township Treasurer Jennifer Woodruff, who voted for the resolution, noted her view that the resolution should be viewed as pro-United States, rather than anti-Chinese.
“I do not refer to it as a Chinese product resolution. I refer to it as a Made in America resolution. I have always supported buying U.S.-based products to boost our economy,” Woodruff said.
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