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Trump's 'Make America Great Again' hats sold through Canadian company

Donald Trump signs a MAGA hat at a campaign rally prior to the U.S presidential elections. Photo from Getty Images
Donald Trump signs a MAGA hat at a campaign rally prior to the U.S presidential elections. Photo from Getty Images

It’s been revealed that those red “Make America Great Again” hats popularized by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign were being sold through a Canadian company, right on the heels of the first “Made in America” week event.

The MAGA hats, an omnipresent fashion item at Trump’s rallies, were sold through Shopify, an e-commerce company based in Ottawa, according to The Daily Dot. According to the news site, Trump’s website uses Shopify’s source code. Though hats are made in a Los Angeles factory, the Shopify-based store also offers a variety of different products. One can buy mugs praising Trump, stickers with recycled Trump slogans, Trump T-shirts, Trump buttons, Trump license plate frames and even Trump megaphones.

The revelation is just the latest example of Trump’s hypocritical approach to championing American labour and industry. Trump has not only used rhetoric calling for more companies to buy American made goods, but even signed an executive order saying, “It shall be the policy of the executive branch to buy American and hire American.”

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It was unclear whether he thought that order also applied to himself but it clearly hasn’t in the past. A 2016 Newsweek investigation revealed that Trump had used Chinese steel in the construction of two of his three latest hotels; in Las Vegas and Chicago. While there is nothing illegal about buying cheaper Chinese steel, it was calculated that American steel companies lost out on more than $350 million in sales.

The Washington Post also performed it’s own investigation of the origins of anything sold with a Trump trademark on it, after Hillary Clinton’s campaign aired an ad claiming that “Trump’s products have been made in 12 other countries.” The newspaper found the majority of products were made outside of the country. Trump shirts came from China, Bangladesh, Honduras and Vietnam. Suits were labelled as both being made in the U.S. and in Indonesia. Sunglasses come from China. Home items came from Germany, Turkey, China and Slovenia. The one item wholly made in America: his MAGA hats.

One item that isn’t likely to sell very well after today: LGBTQ for Trump T-shirts. On July 27, 2017 Trump announced that transgender people would be barred from serving in the military, reversing a period of liberalization of military policies regarding sexual orientation policies.