U.S. Automakers Leery as Pacific Trade Deal as Talks Resume
Concern over closed markets and currency have been some of the thornier issues in the trade pact. The deal may be finalized at a meeting in Hawaii this week attended by officials from the 12 countries.
Photographer: Dario Pignatelli/BloombergU.S. automakers typically back trade agreements that open markets for their products, yet they aren’t cheering for a pact among 12 Pacific nations that’s entering its final negotiations.
The automakers and the union that represents their factory workers say the Trans-Pacific Partnership would reward countries that don’t play fair, either by keeping their markets mostly closed to foreign competition or by manipulating their currency. In particular, they say, it would let Japan perpetuate an imbalance in which it exports 130 vehicles to the U.S. for every one American vehicle exported to Japan.