Brent Snavely

Detroit Free Press

UAW President Dennis Williams said today that the union may soon launch a “Buy American” ad campaign urging Americans to buy cars made in the U.S. by union workers and wants to work with the Trump administration to retool the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Williams said he's "in discussions" to air TV commercials promoting the "buy American" movement and wants to make it easier for consumers to identify foreign-made vehicles at car dealerships.

"We’re seeing a trend in this country — the boycott may be coming back," Williams said at the union's headquarters in Detroit, saying the "Buy American" push is gaining steam for the first time in "many, many years."

The UAW deployed "buy American" campaigns in the late 1970s and 1980s when Japanese companies began winning market share in the U.S. and began building non-unionized plants in the country. But in today's globalized auto industry, buying "American-made" cars can be a confusing and complicated process.

Still, Williams said he believes that the time is right given the current pro-U.S. political climate generated by Trump and said American consumers have tremendous power to influence how corporations make investments and where they put their plants.

“No company … can survive without the market of the United States of America,” Williams said. “We are a big market. "We have a lot of purchasing power. It’s time for us to use that purchasing power and say enough is enough.”

The challenge that Williams faces is that buying American could, in some cases, hurt unionized domestic automakers and help foreign automakers.

For example, the Ford Fusion and about half of the Chevrolet Silverado pickups sold in the U.S. are made in Mexico. Meanwhile, the Chrysler Pacifica is made across the river from Detroit in Windsor, with a lot of parts from the U.S.

But the Honda Civic is made in Greensburg, Ind., while the Toyota Camry is made in Georgetown, Ky. — U.S. plants where the UAW doesn't represent workers.

Consumers can look at a vehicle identification number and figure out where a car is made, but decoding the long jumble of numbers and letters is complicated. The UAW provides this chart to explain it:

UAW Made | UAW

It also maintains a list of vehicles made by union workers in the U.S. and Canada.

Different definitions of 'American made'

There are also a number of different ways to rank the most "American-made" cars.

Since the 1994 passage of the American Automobile Labeling Act, automakers have been required to place a label documenting the percentage of “American” content in each vehicle sold in the U.S. The problem? Canadian and U.S. parts are lumped together, making the label misleading at best.

Car shopping website Cars.com has an annual list that ranks the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey as the top five in its "2016 American Made Index."

The 2016 Cars.com American-Made Index

Cars.com says it "rates vehicles built and bought in the U.S. Factors include the percentage of parts considered domestic under federal regulations, whether the car is assembled in the U.S. and U.S. sales."

Frank DuBois, an associate professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business, has developed his own set of criteria.

On his list, the top five are the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia, Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Corvette. The Kogod Index includes factors such as where the manufacturer's global headquarters is located and where the research and development was conducted for the vehicle.

Kogod School of Business Made in America Auto Index

Today's North American automotive industry also is vastly different from what it was in the 1980s.

Today, Honda operates 12 major U.S. manufacturing plants and 14 research and development sites in the U.S., employing 30,000 workers. According to Honda, 68% of the Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2016 were made in America using domestic and globally sourced parts.

Toyota has 10 manufacturing plants in the U.S., and 55% of the vehicles Toyota sold in the U.S. were made in the U.S. in 2016, the company said.

UAW, Trump are allies on trade

Williams also reiterated his support for Trump's plan to renegotiate NAFTA, which union workers blame for bolstering Mexican manufacturing even though he said the UAW will continue to be a harsh critic of Trump's environmental, immigration and labor policies.

Williams has previously said the union supports significant changes to NAFTA and hopes to work with the Trump administration to change, fix or dismantle the three-country trade deal.

"He’s been the first president that has addressed this issue. I’m gonna give him kudos for that," Williams said.

NAFTA, which became effective in 1994, has led to a loss of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. with many — but not all — of those jobs going to Mexico. Nearly all automakers have built plants in Mexico in recent years, and Mexico passed Canada in 2008 to become the second-biggest manufacturer of new cars in North America.

UAW seeks to join Trump in effort to dismantle NAFTA

"Those employees down there that are working for next to nothing — the pay is deplorable, the conditions are deplorable," Williams said. "I think I should also remind people that it's not just NAFTA, it is the whole amount of imports we have coming into the country from Japan and Korea" and now China.

Williams and UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada have criticized General Motors for airing a Super Bowl commercial for Buick that featured the Encore, which is imported from South Korea, and the Envision, which is imported from China.

UAW opposes Trump's travel ban

Williams, who visited the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn on Wednesday, set aside several minutes at the end of his news conference to blast Trump's immigration policies and travel ban.

"I’ve been watching what’s been going on with the immigration issue with a lot of concern," Williams said.

If there are security issues that need to be fixed, Williams said, the country should fix them.

"But I think it’s very dangerous to single out individual groups based on religion," Williams said. "It’s not only dangerous, it's un-American and I think there has to be people who stand up and talk against it."

UAW takes aim at Tesla

Meanwhile, the UAW also is stepping up efforts to organize foreign automakers in the South and Tesla Motors in California.

UAW steps up efforts with foreign automakers, Tesla

The UAW is planning a major rally at Nissan's plant in Mississippi on March 4 that will include U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, NAACP President Cornell William Brooks and actor Danny Glover.

In Fremont, Calif., a worker posted a blog post last week saying some workers want to organize the electric vehicle manufacturer founded by Elon Musk.

Williams said the UAW began receiving phone calls from workers at Tesla Motors about six to eight months ago and said the plant's unionized history will likely help the UAW as it tries to organize the plant.

The plant was previously operated by a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., commonly called NUMMI.

"I think it probably helps because I think that people there know that with representation … we can address quality issues and management issues … so I think it helps," Williams said.

Contact Brent Snavely: 313-222-6512 or bsnavely@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrentSnavely.