Poor quality merchandise in the southeast of the country (5)
I believe the answer is:
state
'the country' is the definition.
('state' can be a synonym of 'country')
'poor quality merchandise in the southeast' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'quality' could be 'tat' (tat is a kind of quality) and 'tat' is found within the answer.
'southeast' could be 'se' (synonyms) and 'se' is found within the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for state that I've seen before include "Declare: condition" , "Assert; nation" , "Georgia < or Virginia" , "Speak" , "Country; aver" .)