Ask anyone in Detroit what they really want for the automotive industry and most will say Fair Trade.
Alot of the problems in the automotive industry is other countries making it near impossible for the Big 3 to sell their vehicles there.
We know it is happening in Japan and China, even though people insist it's not. Malaysia has come out in the open about their protectionism of their own automotive companies.
In 2006, the government reduced import taxes on most imported vehicles and lowered car prices to make Malaysia a regional auto hub. But it still has high taxes on locally assembled foreign cars and privileges are given to national carmakers.
But when the U.S. cries unfair advantages the WTO says that they don't see anything wrong with what other countries are doing but the minute anyone in the U.S. brings up the subject of raising taxes on imports or limiting imports into the U.S. all the other countries run to the WTO and cry foul and the WTO gets all over the U.S. for just thinking about protectionism.
Recently banks hiked lending rates for foreign cars, giving an unfair advantage to national cars.
The banks even charge more for loans for foreign cars, in Japan people who buy foreign cars (especially from the Big 3) are ostricised for it.
"We cannot continue to have protectionist policies forever. We have committed to open up for the auto sector," he said.But Proton and Perodua officials cautioned that any further liberalization must be done gradually and not harm local companies.
It's all about unfair advantages ...
"We should not be afraid to protect ourselves. At the end of the day, it's every country for themselves. We have to liberalize but it must not be overnight. It must be done in stages," he told reporters on the sidelines."The mind-set has changed. The very same countries that advocate free trade are now" protecting their own companies, said Proton Managing Director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamad Tahir.
Malaysians auto companies are confusing bailouts with protectionism. The U.S. maybe trying to save Chrsyler and GM but they have not raised taxes on foreign cars coming into the U.S, or have put limitations on the number of vehicles coming into the U.S. or banks are not making loans on foreign vehicles higher.
There is a big difference between help and protectionism. When is Obama going to go to the WTO and complain about thep protectionism that is going on in other countries which is hurting our domestic auto makers? We know the answer to that is never, wouldn't want to hurt the feelings of other countries now would we, he would rather our domestic auto makers go out of business first.
Posted by Quality Weenie at May 27, 2009 08:37 AM | TrackBack