On a December phone call with Forbes, the founder of the $800 million (revenue) private company WeatherTech, David MacNeil, ranted about product labels. “If you walk into any store in America and you pick up a box, the Federal Trade Commission requires everything that you purchase to have a country of origin. But when you go online, there’s no regulation for that,” he vented. “The American consumers are being deceived and cheated by not knowing where the product is being made. This is a serious, serious situation that needs to be rectified either by executive order, or by Congress.” Or, he added: “yet-to-be-created FTC guidelines.”

No matter that his diatribe included some hyperbole—the rules mandating country of origin labels for products are complex and don’t apply across the board, according to the FTC and CBP. This patriotic rhetoric plays well in certain circles these days.

Just a few weeks after his conversation with Forbes, President Trump nominated MacNeil—a member at Mar-a-Lago who has donated over $3 million to Trump’s campaigns, associated PACs and inaugurations—to fill one of three open spots on the FTC. If approved, MacNeil, who Forbes estimates is worth more than $4 billion, will become the 12th known billionaire or billionaire’s spouse currently in Trump’s government.

“I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and go to work to help every consumer in America,” MacNeil, 66, tells Forbes. He’s also undoubtedly ready, if confirmed, to use the office to further one of his biggest ambitions: promoting American manufacturing. New FTC “country of origin” rules would be a start.

MacNeil was championing domestic manufacturing long before it was cool. He started selling some U.S.-made merchandise in 1994, five years after founding the business and the same year that NAFTA took effect, ushering in an era of lower tariffs and rabid offshoring. He gradually ramped up from there, and today, WeatherTech makes all of its products in 11 factory facilities in Illinois and sources all of its materials within the United States. “We are so vertically integrated, we cook our own food for the employees. We cut our own lawns,” says MacNeil. “We extrude our own plastic. We design, engineer, and manufacture our own molds and tooling.”

He’s touted WeatherTech’s U.S. production on billboards, in Super Bowl ads and even at a donor lunch with Trump before he was elected. Seated next to the future president, MacNeil says Trump baited him. “‘David, you could make so much more money by manufacturing your products in China. Why don’t you just make them in China?’” MacNeil recalls him asking. “I said, ‘It’s more important to provide jobs to my fellow Americans than it is to make another buck supporting Chinese manufacturing.’ He really liked that answer.”

Trump’s second-term tariffs have already helped WeatherTech relative to some rivals. “Tariffs are certainly taking a toll in the automotive space,” says Dan Daitchman, managing director at financial advisory firm GA Group. While the taxes have mainly targeted cars and car components, he explains, so-called “aftermarket” parts and accessories like those sold by WeatherTech have also been hit, with that industry’s gross margins squeezed up to 4% in the first half of 2025. WeatherTech’s margins are also down slightly, but by more like 2%, and MacNeil says that’s due to inflationary pressures and the rising cost of the oil in its plastic. Retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports are also less of an issue for WeatherTech because roughly 95% of its sales are within the United States. Claims MacNeil, “WeatherTech is getting a larger slice of a shrinking pie.”

Which, in turn, is revving up his own fortune. Based on Forbes estimates, WeatherTech, which he owns outright, is worth $2.4 billion. MacNeil also has at least $320........

© Forbes