Made in the USA

As I think about last night’s State of the Union address, one idea sticks in my mind: buying American.

For a long time, it didn’t matter to me where my products were built. For example, the computer I’m using to write this post was built in China. As long as the product was affordable, high-quality, and did its job, it could have been built anywhere. The exception was cars. After a bad experience with a Ford Mustang II, I made a point of buying mostly Japanese cars. We’ve owned Toyota vehicles since the 1991 Camry we bought just before our wedding. There have been exceptions, like a 1991 Saturn SL1 we had for 14 years. After a while, we also stopped caring about where our cars were manufactured. It didn’t matter whether the car came off an assembly line in Korea or Alabama, as long as it got us where we need to go.

Now, we’re in a situation where we have to brave car shopping in 2023. The car we decided on was a Chevrolet Bolt EUV. At first, it didn’t matter that it was built in the United States, except that it enabled us to qualify for the full Federal tax credit. But the President’s State of the Union address got me thinking about how that car will be built.

To buy this car, our local dealership has to put in a custom order. That order will go to GM’s manufacturing plant in Orion Township, Michigan. The workers at this plant come from UAW Local 5960. Right now…