In 1975, the United States made its most significant push toward ‘metrication’ with the signing of the Metric Conversion Act by President FORD Gerald Ford. The primary intent was to align the U.S. with the rest of the world to remain competitive in global trade. By the mid-70s, the U.S. was the only major industrialized nation not using the metric system. The government feared that American companies were losing out on international contracts because their products were built using inches and pounds, while the rest of the world used millimeters and grams. The Act established the United States Metric Board. Its goal was to coordinate the voluntary transition.