As Trump targets trade, a Chinese factory says its been hired to make flags for Trump's 2020 campaign

REUTERS/Stringer

An employee makes hand held flags of the United States at a textile factory in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, China.

• The owner of a Chinese flag factory said he is making flags for Trump's 2020 campaign.
• It's unclear if the flags were ordered by Trump's official campaign or other businesses, but the factory also made flags for the 2016 election.
• Trump railed against Chinese manufacturing stealing American jobs during the 2016 campaign and has been hitting the country with tariffs and trade threats.

A Chinese factory that used to make red scarves for young communists said it has been contracted to make flags for President Donald Trump's 2020 election campaign.

Trump railed against Chinese manufacturing on the campaign trail in 2016 and was widely criticized as hypocritical when unofficial merchandise carrying the "Make America Great Again" slogan began flooding shelves across the country.

But now, as potential trade war with China looms and Trump's re-election campaign gets underway, a Chinese manufacturer said he has been hired to create flags for Trump. The flag factory, which used to make scarves for the communist Young Pioneers before China opened up its trade, now makes around 100,000 international flags a day.

"We also make flags for Trump for 2020. It seems like he has another campaign going on in 2020. Isn't that right?" Li Jiang told NPR's The Indicator podcast.

Kevin Hagen/Getty Images

Trump supporters hold a blue and white 'Make America Great Again' flag in front of Trump Tower, New York City.

NPR said Li is making "blue and white Trump 2020 flags," though his factory and many in the Zhejiang region made Trump and Hillary Clinton flags during 2016. According to NPR, the Trump campaign was ordering so many more flags than Clinton's side that locals joke they were the first to know the businessman would become president.

The committee organizing the Trump 2020 campaign, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., last year stated its commitment to "buy American" and that it has "produced and manufactured all of our merchandise right here in America" down to the American-made stitching on its Make America Great Again hats.

The committee said "we put America First and take great pride in selling 100% Made in the USA products to our supporters throughout the country."

Executive Director Michael Glassner said in a statement at the time that "All the way through 2020 and beyond, we will proudly continue to sell American products and introduce new one... to help Make America Great Again."

But it is unclear if the organization is the one to have ordered these flags and, if it did, whether it considers them to be "merchandise" that needs to be made in the US as they are potentially given away at rallies and events rather than sold to supporters.

As for a potential trade war affecting sales, Li, who used to make about a dime off each $1 flag he sold, told NPR he is unconcerned.

"We are not so worried because first of all, we have a big price advantage over our competitors. And our clients are very smart. They would always go to the cheapest place. If China is cheap, they go to China. If America is cheap, they go to America."

Business Insider contacted the Trump 2020 campaign to confirm whether it has contracted flags to be made in China and will update this post when it receives a response.