Japan dumped substandard Nuts n Bolts on the US marketplace: Interesting read about the FQA

<CITE:http://www.qualitydigest.com/june00/html/fastener.html>

If ever there were a "The Cure was Worse than the Disease" award, the
Fastener Quality Act (FQA) would surely win. Both the "disease" and the
"cure" are associated with metal fasteners that affect our well-being
every day as we drive our cars, cross over bridges and fly in airplanes
(just a few examples of our dependency on products held together by
fasteners).

The original purposes of the FQA were to protect public safety, deter
introduction of nonconforming fasteners into U.S. commerce and provide
increased assurance to fastener users that, at a minimum, products meet
stated standards. Upon closer examination, a secondary objective
emerges that places stricter controls on fasteners produced in foreign
countries, some of which were believed to be substandard products
"dumped" into the U.S. marketplace.
....