It’s been a big year in U.S.-China relations, and the conclusion of 2019 may or may not see the end of a trade war between the nations. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, charged with monitoring and investigating the national security implications of this bilateral economic relationship, has had plenty to keep an eye on.

Among a number of recommendations for congressional action in the Commission’s just-released annual report, several stand out in particular.

The Commission calls for Congress to address U.S. dependence on Chinese pharmaceuticals – an issue to which we’ve been paying close attention to for some time. Just this past month, Michael Wessel, who sits on the U.S.-China Commission, laid out in testimony before a House committee China’s plans to dominate America’s drug supply as a means of securing economic supremacy but also to potentially “weaponize its supply chain should it so choose.”   

The Commission’s 2019 report recommends that Congress continue to hold hearings exploring U.S. dependence on China’s pharmaceuticals. However, the commission is clear on the goal of these hearings: Legislation that requires the Food and Drug Administration to identify pharmaceuticals that are manufactured exclusively in China or formulated with the active pharmaceutical ingredients made in China, as well as an investigation to determine whether those drugs are manufactured with as much regulation as pharmaceuticals produced in America.

The Wall Street Journal has published a lengthy look at Amazon’s years-long effort to bring products directly from Chinese factories to me and you, the American consumer. How has this effort turned out?

Well, the title of the article is “Amazon’s Heavy Recruitment of Chinese Sellers Puts Consumers at Risk.” So … maybe good for The House That Jeff Built, but kinda bad for consumers!

This is another example of the Journal giving Amazon the business recently. Only a few weeks ago it reported that the company stubbornly lists for sale lots of clothing produced in Bangladeshi factories that even competitors like Walmart shun because of chronic violations of basic safety standards. And in August, the Journal detailed how little oversight the company has over the products sold on its platform, which results in “thousands of banned, unsafe or mislabeled products” floating around on there. The paper itself found more than 10,000 such items on the site between June and August.

And now comes today’s story. The paper reports that out of nearly 2,000 sellers of problematic items (whose addresses could be determined), more than half were based in China.

That’s the result of Amazon’s effort to “cut out the middleman” between Chinese manufacturers and America’s online shoppers.

That was the sales pitch an Amazon representative made this year at a trade event in Hong Kong … but it’s not an accurate description of what the company has been selling to the Chinese manufacturers it’s recruiting. The Journal cites another Amazonian who was much more on the nose in 2017 when she told a conference audience of Chinese business people: “We help factories directly open accounts on Amazon and sell to U.S. consumers directly. This is our value.”

These pitches appear to have been effective. Amazon doesn’t require its sellers to list where they’re located (or share that information), but the Journal cites an outside analysis of the 10,000 most-reviewed Amazon sellers that found approximately 38% of them are now located in China … a percentage that has increased steadily since Amazon began recruiting Chinese sellers in 2013.

The artisans and craftsmen at Wendell August Forge have been making holiday-ready hand-hammered metal gifts and ornaments in Mercer, Pa., for nearly 100 years.

But in 2010, it all went up in flames.

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Located about 40 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh — the capital of the American steel industry — America’s largest and oldest forge sits tucked away in an industrial part of Pennsylvania.

Forging is one of the oldest working techniques of artisans. It involves heating, hammering and shaping metal objects. Every Wendell August Forge piece follows this old school tradition, hand-shaped one at a time by the company’s craftsmen (who also are members of the United Steelworkers).

Wendell August Forge makes a variety of items, including holiday gifts — the company is well-known for its one-of-a-kind Christmas tree ornaments — and just launched a new line of NFL-themed coasters and keychains. The company also creates home décor items including bowls, dishes, cutting boards, glassware, and other tabletop pieces. Wendell August Forge has a gift for nearly every special occasion, including wedding gifts, commemorative gifts, baby gifts, Mother’s and Father’s days gifts and patriotic holidays. 

Will Knecht owns Wendell August Forge with his sister. His mother and father bought the company in 1978, and Knecht continues to take pride in the time-tested traditions of its past.

“We really believe in this thing called American craftsmanship. We get calls two or three times a quarter with people saying there is this factory in China that you guys should really consider, and it is no way,” Knecht said. “We were Made in America before it was cool to be Made in America, and we will continue to be Made in America.”

But the future of the tough-as-metal company looked grim in 2010, when a fire caused the factory, corporate offices and flagship retail store to burn to the ground. This was just after the company had gotten its largest order ever from the Pittsburgh Penguins National Hockey League team.