SAN DIEGO -- Labor Day on Monday brought a plea from local union leaders for Americans to buy products made in America.

"We hope we'll get by the Wal-Mart mentality of buying the cheapest goods and lots of goods and go back to the quality made items that we know we can make here with American workers," said Lorena Gonzalez of the San Diego Labor Council.

Gonzalez said Wal-Mart imports about $18 billion in goods from China every year.

"Now, if those were American-made goods and the money was being recycled in the United States, we’d be in a much different place economically," she said.

Gonzalez said purchasing items that are "Made in America" help the economy and promotes job growth stateside.

However, economists disagree. Economics professor Dr. Dan Seiver at San Diego State University said the United States would only be hurting itself if citizens only purchased American-made goods, especially since the United States exports more than $1 trillion worth of goods every year to foreign countries.

"If we were to say that then the other countries could say the same kind of thing," he said.

Many foreign countries also manufacture goods in the United States and vice versa.

"A Japanese car assembled in Smirna, Tenn. may employ a lot more Americans than an American car that's assembled in Canada," said Seiver.