RELEASE: Gottheimer Announces Bipartisan Legislation to Require American-Made Products in National Parks

Above: Gottheimer joins local leaders and New Jersey manufacturers to announce new bipartisan legislation to put American-made products in National Parks.

MORRISTOWN, NJ — Today, December 8, 2025, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced the American Products in Parks Act, bipartisan legislation to ensure all products for sale in National Park Service visitor centers and gift shops are American-made. 

Currently, more than 60% of the products in national park shops are made in part, or completely, somewhere else — helping families and businesses in other countries. These are dollars that should be supporting American manufacturers and businesses, creating American jobs, and supporting economic growth for American families.

A large number of items sold at national park gift shops and visitor centers are not actually made in the U.S., including American flags, t-shirts, snow globes, phone cases, maps, calendars, and even pictures and paintings of our national parks.

The American Products in Parks Act will:

• Mandate that a product may only be sold in a National Park Service gift shop or visitor center if:
  • The final assembly or processing of the product occurs in the U.S.
  • All significant processing going into the product occurs in the U.S. 
  • All or virtually all ingredients or components of the product are made and sourced in the U.S.

Gottheimer is also writing a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on conducting supply chain analysis with the National Park Service to find American-manufactured items to be sold in national parks. 

Gottheimer was joined today at Morristown National Historic Park’s Jockey Hollow Visitor Center by NJMEP CEO Peter Connolly, Judith Fleischer of NJMEP, and president of New Jersey manufacturer Unionwear, Mitch Cahn.

American manufacturers could greatly benefit from the bipartisan American Products in Parks Act, as the National Park Service reported a record 331.9 million visitors who spent $29 billion in parks and the communities around them in 2024.

“I’m announcing new bipartisan legislation that says plainly: if it’s sold in our national parks and visitors centers, it’s got to be made in America,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “Families who visit our parks, and feel the love of our country that so many of us share, should not have that feeling shattered when they turn over a gift and see ‘made in China’ instead of ‘made in America.’ This bill is about ensuring they don’t have to. It’s not only the patriotic thing to do, but it’s good for our economy — our families and their jobs, our manufacturers and our communities.” 

“George Washington would want it that way,” Gottheimer continued.

Video of Gottheimer’s announcement can be found here.

Below: Gottheimer announces new bipartisan legislation to require American-made products in National Parks.

Gottheimer’s full remarks as prepared for delivery are below:

Good morning. It’s great to be with you in Morristown, here at the Jockey Hollow Visitor Center at Morristown National Historical Park. This landmark provided wood and lodging to George Washington’s army during the American Revolution — during the famously harsh winter of 1779. It was so brutal that Washington wrote, “there are certain bounds beyond which it is impossible for human nature to go.” They did, and here we are. 

Of course, Jockey Hollow isn’t the only national park that has been dedicated to helping Americans throughout history.

When President Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone as the first national park, he did so, quote “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” Later, it would be President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who is responsible for establishing one-fourth of all our national parks, who said it best: “There is nothing so American as our national parks…The fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”

You see, these are more than just landmarks that highlight the rich history and beauty of our nation, where families come to spend time together, enjoy a hike, or get a special souvenir to keep these memories for a lifetime. These parks are specifically dedicated to improving the lives of Americans. We want as many Americans as possible to enjoy them. In fact, we have certain days a year where there are no entrance fees, including July 4th, Veterans Day, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Just yesterday, President Trump removed free entry on MLK Day and Juneteenth, and, in a shock of audacity, added his own birthday to the list of free days. You can’t make this stuff up.

There’s another thing that will totally surprise you. Beyond entrance fees, so much of the revenue our National Parks and visitor centers generate comes from the merchandise they sell in the gift shops. This will come as a shock — I mean, I couldn’t believe it — a large number of items sold at National Park gift shops and visitor centers aren’t actually made in America. I’m talking about American flags, t-shirts, snow globes, phone cases, maps, calendars, and even pictures and paintings of our national parks. According to the National Parks Service’s most recent data, only thirty-nine percent of products sold at our national parks are totally made in America. 

More than 60 percent of the stuff in our park shops is made in part, or completely, somewhere else — helping families and businesses in other countries. These are dollars that aren’t supporting American manufacturers and businesses, creating American jobs, or supporting economic growth for our families. Instead, by buying these products at our national parks, Americans are sending their hard-earned dollars overseas and helping China reap the benefits? Beyond the American flag itself, is there anything more symbolic of America than our national parks? And the shops here are chock full of Chinese and other foreign-made goods? What the hell?  

And we’re not just talking about a couple of dollars either. Families come from all over the world to places like this to see all the best our great country has to offer. Last year, a record 331.9 million visitors walked through at least one of our country’s 433 official national parks. In total, visitors spent nearly $30 billion last year in our national parks and the communities right near them. And as we prepare to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of our great country, these numbers could rise even higher.

Beyond the symbolism of it all, these are dollars right out of the pockets of American workers. Given the cost of everything right now, from health care to property taxes to utility bills, our American businesses and workers could use the dollars and jobs it would create if we made the stuff in our park stores here. 

We need to do everything possible to support American manufacturers, not to throw the car in reverse and just hope it works out. We can’t just let our economic production grind to a halt, or leave the millions of dollars our national parks generate on the table for other nations like China to snatch up.

That’s why today I’m announcing new bipartisan legislation that says plainly: if it’s sold in our national parks and visitors centers, it’s got to be made in America. 

First, I’m proudly introducing the bipartisan American Products in Parks Act with Representative Jeff Hurd from Colorado. This bill does what its name suggests, and what our country needs: requiring National Park Service gift shops and visitor centers to only sell products that are made here in America. 

Families who visit our parks, and feel the love of our country that so many of us share, should not have that feeling shattered when they turn over a gift and see “made in China” instead of “made in America.” This bill is about ensuring they don’t have to. It’s not only the patriotic thing to do, but it’s good for our economy — our families and their jobs, our manufacturers and our communities. 

And, we know this will support our local economies — every dollar in sales of American-manufactured products generates $1.34 in economic activity in other sectors of the economy. That’s the largest economic multiplier of any sector.

To ensure that American manufacturing can both grow and thrive, we need to take bold action to actually support it, not to just wait on the sidelines and help the other teams by doing nothing.

Also, since the National Park Service can’t solve this problem alone, I’m asking everyone to come to the table to fix this issue. In a letter I’m sending this week, I’m calling on the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration (SBA) to work with the National Park Service to immediately identify American-made alternatives to sell at our parks. No excuses. Let’s just take a look at our domestic supply chain, and help the Park Service find goods made right here in the U.S., so more gift stores and visitor centers like the one just behind me can put them on the shelves at an affordable price.

I can’t say it enough: our national parks are treasures that showcase just how beautiful this great country is. That’s why I helped pass the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act to address the massive maintenance backlog impacting our National Parks. I also supported the National Park Foundation Reauthorization Act and the Japanese American Confinement Education Act to ensure continued support for the National Park Foundation and to support the preservation of the internment camps that were used to hold Japanese Americans during WWII. 

We must work together to preserve these natural treasures for our future generations — there is nothing partisan about it. Our parks aren’t red or blue — they are red, white, and blue — and today’s bipartisan legislation will help ensure that.

The bottom line: This is commonsense legislation that is good for the American worker, American businesses, and the great American products they make. American dollars should stay here with our families and strengthen our communities.

Here in the greatest country in the world, if we do that, I know our best days will always be ahead of us.

God bless you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

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