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Washington, D.C.-Congressman Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) announced today that 200 bipartisan Members of Congress have agreed to cosponsor his Thailand Truck Resolution. Kildee introduced the resolution to discourage the Bush Administration from engaging in bilateral trade agreements with Thailand that would eliminate or reduce tariffs on imported pickup trucks. The Bush Administration plans to proceed this year with negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement with Thailand that could jeopardize the U.S. automobile industry.
“I am delighted that this resolution has received overwhelming bipartisan support,” said Congressman Kildee. “I hope that this display of support will encourage the House and Senate to move quickly to protect the jobs of tens of thousands of American autoworkers before they are destroyed by this trade agreement.”
The bipartisan resolution aims at preventing the loss of jobs for tens of thousands of American workers who are currently employed in pickup truck parts and assembly plants across the country. The Kildee resolution urges the President to refrain from negotiations that would provide Thailand with greater access to critical segments of the U.S. automobile market through the reduction or elimination of the tariff on imported pickup trucks. Congressman Kildee is concerned that Japan, South Korea, India and other major producing countries would take advantage of this opportunity to flood the U.S. automobile market with unrestricted foreign products through their operations in Thailand. The UAW strongly supports the Kildee resolution.
“The Bush Administration is endangering the jobs of U.S. autoworkers and the future of the American auto industry by considering harmful trade negotiations with Thailand that would flood U.S. markets with foreign pickup trucks,” said Kildee. “Lifting the tariff on imported pickup trucks from Thailand would only exacerbate the damage that was already done to the U.S. auto industry when NAFTA eliminated the tariff on imported pickup trucks from Mexico. We must scrutinize any proposal to reduce or eliminate tariffs on foreign auto imports before more damage is done to the U.S. automobile industry.”
Congressman Kildee has been a strong opponent of NAFTA, CAFTA and other Free Trade Agreements that abandon American workers, while exploiting foreign labor and weakening environmental standards in other countries. |
