business

Study sees U.S. auto job losses if Japan joins trade pact

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"But Ford contends the Japanese government maintains a number of regulatory and other “non-tariff barriers” to keep out most foreign cars and in the past has intervened heavily in currency market to help its auto companies compete."

That's a pretty dumb comment. Perhaps Ford should send some reps over to try driving Ford cars around the back streets of Tokyo.

While they were here, they could check out how the fuel economy of Japanese cars leave American cars in the dust again and again

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Have you ever looked at the content of "non-tarriff barriers"? Whether it is auto makers or food makers, basically what they want is a lowering of the standards so they can enter the market. These are high standards the Japanese makers have to follow. Lots of German and French cars on the road here. The real problem is American makers don't make cars Japanese like and don't bother to find out what Japanese want. I say keep out the garbage. I don't want to get hit by some American car built to lower standards that malfunctions while I'm crossing the street.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Dear Ford and other US auto companies.... MAKE BETTER CARS. Only US company I'd be willing to buy a vehicle from right now is Tesla.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

A report from a totally unbiased and neutral organisation I see. Ask the Germans if they have any difficulties selling cars in Japan.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Dear Japan, please make the playing field for food as level as for cars and then talk.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Absolute protectionist nonsense. More open trade would mean better, cheaper cars. That means millions of people would have a couple extra thousand dollars to spend, which would ultimately add A LOT MORE jobs than these politicians claim they'd lose.

Of course, this would be made much easier on EVERYBODY if Japan reduced it's own barriers to imports, as then would open U.S. markets, giving all those displaced auto workers another place to work.

The only people who argue for protectionist policies (politicians, unions, etc) do so because they want some people to benefit (their constituents) at the expense of everybody else.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

This will make Japan want to join

0 ( +0 / -0 )

But Ford contends the Japanese government maintains a number of regulatory and other “non-tariff barriers” to keep out most foreign cars and in the past has intervened heavily in currency market to help its auto companies compete.

Ford should name these barriers so that they can be discussed and removed as a condition of Japanese entry into the agreement. I love free trade but if someone has located a potential barrier that would circumvent such an agreement I would like to see it properly addressed.

That's a pretty dumb comment. Perhaps Ford should send some reps over to try driving Ford cars around the back streets of Tokyo.

The charge about currency manipulation has nothing to do with the quality of the vehicals. Although, if you look at Ford's new line there are certainly some smaller higher mpg options that would be suitable.

Personally I switch between the Big 3 as the years go on lest I be shot and thrown in a Detroit gutter by my neighbors.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

In 1979 the UAW membership in the US was 1,500,000 workers and in the year 2011 the UAW has a grand total of 390,000. The "Big Three" has moved jobs overseas (outsourcing) to Mexico, Australia. South Africa, Spain, South Korea, and Japan. After the great fighting UAW whose members came out of t he Flint Michigan sit down strikes who fought for Union rights and jobs, has lost over one million jobs since the seventies and now cries over the possible loss of 26,000? In the Flint Michigan strike the plant had 45,000 workers in 1935. If this trend continues the UAW, a skeleton of its former self, will cease to exist, regardless of what Japan does. The demise of the US auto jobs is not due to Americans not buying American products, as GM said in the 1980's with the, "Buy American. Save American jobs". The concept of the Global economy came out of the need to lower wages and to break the union, a Union Free America. The jobs flight was not constrained to auto, but extends to steel, electronics, agri-business, to textiles. If the UAW want to know who is truly to blame for the loss of American Auto jobs, the leadership of the UAW can look in the mirror to find the one responsible for it.

As Michael Jackson once said, "the man in the mirror."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

There is a conflicts even in US regarding Japan's participation in TPP. For me, looking at the number of a car selling, it's covered by 70% of a production in US. So, it means there may not be such big impact that Obama should push Japan to keep considering TPP.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I thought America was out allie! They export a lot of military to Japan.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The end of TPP. Good for both countries.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@Above Posters

Yeah, sure it's all the US car producers fault. The Japanese government, in the last 12 months, has spent 12 trillion Yen manipulating their currency so that Japanese exporters don't have to play on a fair playing field.

Domestic non-tarrif barriers aside, I think that's a pretty solid statement of Japanese intent.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

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