Yeah, the US in general usually prioritizes price over quality, for almost everything. You can get quality, but the default is low quality and cheap. That's for just about everything, from alcohol, to furnature, and everything in between. Americans are generally cheap bastards. It sucks.
With how large the US is though, yeah, we also have some of the highest quality of a lot of things if you know what you're looking for. Like you said though, it isn't the default.