tcs

Different countries have different 'made in' laws and regulations. Some places don't care; the US and many of its citizens have had a serious jones about 'Made in America' since the 1880s.

So yeah, I've read that some folks in Italy or where ever import raw frames from Asia, paint them and call them Italian or where ever bikes. Whatever; that's their bag, not America's. That level of transformation wouldn't meet the US legal definition of 'Made in America'.

Now, there are no US Commerce Department police who look for infractions. You can import something and slap a 'Made in America' label on it and you'll get away with it until someone, perhaps a competitor or disgruntled consumer, files a complaint with the Commerce Department. (If Commerce ultimately after investigation rules against you, you could face serious fines and penalties, so there's that.)

But crafty marketing departments are undeterred. You might see an American flag decal on a bike, way down by the bottom bracket, and think the bike is made in America. If you'll get down on your hands and knees and read the fine print on the decal, it will say something like "Frame Designed in America" (wow, big whoopie) or maybe "Assembled in America with foreign and domestic components", the domestic components being the valve stem caps and the foreign components being the rest of the bike.

Recently companies began stickering things 'Manufactured in America'. This legally means the same thing as "Assembled in America with foreign and domestic components" but is supposed to confuse you into thinking it means "Made in America", i.e. "Fabricated in America".

tcs

In the 1990s the Chinese began undervaluing their cycling products and manufacturing services and 'dumping' product on the West.

The EU investigated and countered with tariffs on imported Chinese bicycles, some of which continue to this day.

The US bicycle manufacturing industry called for the same thing in America. The Commerce Department under Clinton, Bush and Obama have consistently shrugged and in effect said, 'Hey, they're trying to figure out how to be capitalists. We'll give 'em bicycles; that's a 19th Century thing anyway." Yeah, that eviscerated the US bike industry. Boutique and niche are all that's left.