I have personal knowledge of the federal government regulating Amazon in a way that comports with the US Constitution. It’s a specific case but may help you flesh out your plan.
Pesticides are regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, which is a ‘necessary and proper’ function under the Interstate Commerce clause of the Constitution. FIFRA hinges on pesticidal claims made by manufacturers & sellers. Violating FIFRA generally results in fines.
There were >100k sellers in the Amazon Marketplace making pesticidal claims about products they were selling. Examples of pesticidal claims include saying a pair of garden gloves are made of a material that is “antimicrobial,” or that a product “prevents” bed bugs from getting onto a bed.
The government took enforcement action against Amazon because, though it isn’t a seller per se, it enabled the illegal ads and sales. Amazon itself decided to offer a training course for sellers and disallow all pesticide sales that didn’t have an associated US government product or manufacturer registration. Problem solved, in compliance with the Constitution.
If what is needed is to make it more palatable for the average person, then I think explaining the negative impact to the average American is the focus. We already lost most of the Blue Collar jobs now do we want to loose the White Collar jobs too? There won’t be much left if we continue down that path. Those who work in manufacturing are already well aware of loosing out to foreign competition. Those with the cushy office jobs have been unimpacted in the past. Now those jobs being sent overseas is what is happening. Entrepreneurs in foreign countries is who it is benefiting. This issue effects anyone in marketing, product marketing, digital marketing, advertising, purchasing, buying, quality, logistics, sourcing, customer service, graphic design, video editors, photographers, product development, accounting, finance, data analysts, etc. This targets most or all jobs.
Maybe the word “ban” is unrealistic. Instead it may be some type of tax or fee that needs to be paid that evens the playing field. Like a 45% sales tax on all items sold directly form a foreign based seller. Also, I think the marketplace being foreign is less of an issue, as long as the foreign based seller is targeted. So maybe the focus should be on an action that directly targets the foreign based seller. It seems like tariffs is the primary way foreign competition gets evened out, so keeping with that type of similar repercussion of a % of sales/costs could be more easily received by law makers. We need the fee though to distinguish between American companies/sellers/brands vs foreign based/owned companies. A tax on the sales revenue seems effective.
I’m going to see how I incorporate some of this into the original proposal when I get a chance to sit down. I’ve already spent so much time writing, editing, commenting and trying to spread the word I’m a little burnt out. This doesn’t seem to have taken off the way I’d hoped or it doesn’t resonate with as many people as I thought it would. I feel like people who aren’t in Ecommerce don’t realize this is an issue.
Ok Abe - you got me fired up and i modified the proposal and title incorporating a lot of your content and advice. I also shared the post on 10 of the most recent or hottest relevant posts.
Would really appreciate a partner in you if you wouldn’t mind helping to keep this thread alive, posting this proposal link in other relevant proposals threads to get more eyes on it and keeping the dialogue going with others. Also let me know if you think anything in revision should be made more clear, omitted or added.
I think if this issue were understood more clearly more people would support it but I also have a life that needs attending to and I’m not much of a social media marketer.
Hi Brandy! I’m looking for partners to keep this post alive. If you could please help by spreading the word, posting the link on other trending topics and engaging with people on this discussion it would be so greatly appreciated. I know if more people understood this issue more would support it but I’m starting to experience a little burnout!
Stop all these tax exclusions on foreign countries coming into the US. One is being built in my community and they will not have to pay taxes for 15 years. I know of it happening in other places and when they are at the end of their tax exclusion sell it to another family member to keep it going. Stop China from buying more and more of our farmland and mining only 2 states have laws against this. We the people need to do a better job at looking up US made products, every ecommerce site should have to print where it is made. I know this would help not everyone has the time to look it up before they make a purchase online.
I’ve only glanced over what you stated in your policy. Please consider the fraud and consumer protection aspect of dealing with China directly. Many scams out there with fake websites that take PayPal as payment for a product that never ships. I experienced this first hand and can provide additional details to explain how business is done directly with China as a consumer.
This is absolutely a reality as well and the recommendation to ban foreign sellers from accessing the US consumer market would technically cover that but it would be near impossible to enforce… A scam website is a scam website from any country and technically they are already illegal.
Enforcement through these large marketplaces would more easily be enabled by holding the marketplaces themselves accountable for enforcement
There is rampant fraud perpetrated by CCP subsidised clothing retailers which use slave and child labor yet some are listed on the NY Stock Exchange. Although the Chinese economy and Xi’s leadership are under great stress such that they are beginning to see an invasion of Taiwan as their only available distraction from the powerful “Bai Lan” or let it rot movement and unmanageable social unrest, their hybrid warfare tactics directed at the west, especially the US, continue unabated. We are at war. It is clearly so in the minds of the CCP and the PLA, however due to extensively successful and decades long strategies involving propaganda and the compromising of US officials, academia, pharma and trade at all levels the US generally remains oblivious to the realities of this war. We must retaliate in earnest! bigmouth.substack.com
I have not heard anything yet. Right now I’m going to revamp the way the policy is laid out. I have another person on the forum who is going to work with me on the policy. I have a lot of research to do so I can make updates. I’ll keep you updated.
That’s the goal . I’ve heard that RFK was promoting this website (have even seen it marketed as his own initiative). My hope is that this gets enough visibility to get noticed.
I believe the Trump administration would understand this issue and have the political will to address it
If you know anyone that this would resonate with please please share it. It’s worth a shot at least.