A generator is a lot of copper, which isn't going to be cheap if made in North America because of the added value in each step from raw material to retail. Still, it's a simple construction well understood for 100 years, so an import won't be an issue provided it's sized correctly, and that is far from guaranteed. The associated panel and motor are more important though, and a North American made unit will prove worthwhile there. Anything with a motor or even worse, a compressor, is a severe load on startup, so size your generator accordingly.
Use incandescent or LED lighting with any generator. Absolutely avoid any Compact Fleurescent Bulb (CFL) lamps in your generator driven circuit, as they have a very poor Power Factor which makes them a very difficult load.
Normal residential wiring from the Power Company has no way to account for Power Factor, but commercial 3-phase power does. The Utility can therefore charge the business customer for the extra power it must generate to run the CFL bulbs but for a residence they can't (they raise the rates overall for the entire customer base to compensate). Regardless, when you are running a generator you are the Power Utility, and it doesn't take many watts of CFL to choke your generator ... certainly way less than adding up the demand versus capacity would seem to indicate. Six 18 watt CFL bulbs will choke a 2000 watt generator.
Not an issue with the other types of bulbs.
Off topic, but what do you suppose the chances the Power Utility will lower their rates when everyone moves to the benign LED load from the onerous CFL load, therefore allowing the Utility to generate less power per watt delivered to residences?
