"Today’s announcement...is a disappointment and very troubling," UAW President Dennis Williams said in a statement. "For every investment in Mexico it means jobs that could have and should have been available right here in the USA."

Ford's investment also comes amid a presidential election where the the leading Republican candidate, Donald Trump, has publicly pressured Ford to drop its plans to expand in Mexico.

Ford said today it remains committed to investing in the U.S. and adding jobs in America even as it expands its presence in Mexico.

"We have to make decisions on a global scale because we compete globally," Joe Hinrichs, Ford's vice president and president of the America's, told the Free Press. "But lets be clear: We are a proud American company and the majority of our investment happens here in the U.S."

Hinrichs said Ford has hired 25,000 workers in the U.S. in the past five years and produces more cars in America than any other automaker.

Last month Trump said he would stop Ford from building in Mexico if he is elected president said he would threaten the company and any other automaker who does so with a 35% tariff on any products or parts imported into the U.S.

"Within 24 to 48 hours I will get a call from the head of Ford and he will say, 'Mr. President, we have decided we're going to build our new plant in the United States.' ... That's 100% sure," Trump said in March when he spoke in Warren. "They're going to say, 'We're moving back. You want us to move to Michigan?' And I'll say, 'Yeah.'"