Chrysler is running a television ad for the Dodge Challenger that ends, “Domestic, Not Domesticated.” This is a big lie: the Dodge Challenger is made in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. It is not domestic. It is, in fact, imported.
Chrysler was bailed out by the federal government in 2009 with a $12 billion loan. The purpose of the loan was to save Chrysler, which had filed for bankruptcy protection, and its tens of thousands of workers.
Neither President George W. Bush, nor President Barack Obama attached any strings to this massive bailout. Our so-called “Car Czar” did nothing to keep jobs in the United States. Chrysler and General Motors would definitely have agreed to keep production in the United States because the alternative was going completely out of business. Chrysler said it would keep jobs in the United States, but it lied. Chrysler now does not make a single passenger car in the United States. Ford and General Motors are heading in the same direction by making more cars overseas and fewer in America. Buick, for example, manufactures the majority of its car models overseas. The American taxpayer has been had.
To add insult to injury, for the first time, Jeep, a division of Chrysler, is now manufacturing Jeeps overseas in Italy for sale in the United States. This is the same Jeep that the US Army used to liberate Italy from the fascist Mussolini regime.
Chrysler invented the minivan in the United States, but no longer makes them here. The Chrysler Pacifica and the Dodge Caravan minivans are both made in Canada. Do you know why they make these vehicles in Canada? Because Canada has socialized medicine where the provincial governments pay for health care and the manufacturers don’t. In the United States car manufacturers pay more than $1,500 per car for health care for every car made in the USA. Our government’s policies have driven Chrysler, Ford and General Motors to make more cars in Canada and fewer in the United States because we do not have government health care.
General Motors promoted the Camaro in advertising by proclaiming that it was “brought to you by the country who invented rock and roll.” But in fact, the Camaro was and is made in Canada. Canada did not invent rock and roll, the United States did. GM’s ad was clearly false and misleading.
The American Automobile Labeling Act (AALA), which I testified in favor of and lobbied to get passed, requires that all new cars include on their window price sticker the country where the car was made, and where the engine and transmission were manufactured. At car shows all around the United States, where millions of Americans look at new cars to buy or dream of buying, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors remove these stickers illegally. This prevents consumers from being well informed as to where these auto companies make their cars and trucks. GM and Chrysler manufacture many cars in Canada, Mexico, North Korea, Italy, Poland, China and other places. Way to go Car Czar!
The US Department of Transportation is supposed to enforce the AALA law, but doesn’t. I have written to Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, about these violations of law, but have not yet received a response.
Congress should pass a law that requires advertisements for cars and other consumer products to disclose the country of origin of the product. The ad for the Dodge Challenger would simply say: “Made in Canada.” The Mercedes C class sedan is made in Alabama. Mercedes does not want consumers to know this either. Mercedes wants its customers to think that it is made in Germany. A television ad for the Mercedes C sedan would also disclose that it is made in the USA.
The Made in the USA Foundation hired the Harris Poll to determine if Americans preferred to buy American products. By a large margin the survey showed the Americans are willing to pay more for a “Made in the USA” label.
This advertising law should also apply to other products including prescription drugs. It seems that half of the ads on television are for prescription drugs. More and more prescription drugs are made overseas. The ads would have to disclose that the drug is made in Ireland, or China or India, wherever it is made. Consumers have a right to know where the products they are buying are made. Congress and the executive branch must enforce this right.
Joel Joseph is an attorney and chairman of the Made in the USA Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting American-made products. Email joeldjoseph@gmail.com. Phone 310 MADE-USA
From The Progressive Populist, November 1, 2022
Blog | Current Issue | Back Issues | Essays | Links
About the Progressive Populist | How to Subscribe | How to Contact Us