Which Country Counts? The Limits of Country-of-Origin Labels in Global Supply Chains

The “Made in X” label remains the dominant transparency signal in global trade, but it oversimplifies how goods are made. This paper examines its limits in buyer-driven commodity chains wherein production spans multiple countries. Using concepts from traceability and supply chain visibility, we identify three problems. First, the label reduces multi-tier production to a single country, generating information loss and obscuring supply chain complexity. Second, labels shape consumer beliefs in ways that can hide upstream labor and environmental risks. Third, maintaining label accuracy is costly for firms and stretches regulators whose resources are thin relative to trade volumes and changing rules. We outline research needs: models to measure disclosure loss, tiered disclosure designs that integrate with logistics systems, and Industry 5.0 architectures to attribute value and responsibility more fairly across countries. These directions chart a path toward transparency systems fit for Industry 5.0 supply chains.