WASHINGTON – Representative Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) and members of the Michigan Congressional delegation urged United States Trade Representative (USTR) Rob Portman to protect American pickup truck manufacturing during ongoing free trade negotiations between the U.S. and Thailand.  The letter to Portman warns of devastating effects on American jobs if the U.S.-Thailand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) rolls back or eliminates the current twenty-five percent tariff on imported pickup trucks.  Thirteen members of the Michigan delegation, including Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, signed the letter.

“Ten pickup truck assembly plants in eight states which employ roughly 20,000 American workers would be put at immediate risk, not to mention the thousands of jobs in other fields that are dependent on domestic pickup truck production,” Kildee said. “These jobs would be jeopardized as a result of a U.S.-Thailand FTA that eliminates the tariff.  Our trade officials need to stand up for our manufacturing base and support policies that protect American jobs.”

Thailand is already the world’s second largest producer of pickup trucks.  The expected surge in pickup truck imports from Japanese, Korean and Indian nameplates in Thailand, in the absence of a tariff, could swamp the U.S. market, displacing domestic pickup truck production and the employees that make them.  This would be disastrous for U.S. automotive employment, especially at a time when the sector can least afford to sustain additional job losses.  General Motors and Ford have both recently announced their intentions to slash tens of thousands of American jobs within five years.                    

Retention of the current tariff was discussed in a November meeting between Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and the entire Michigan Congressional delegation in Washington. Granholm met with the delegation in a bipartisan effort to develop a consensus federal policy agenda that will boost the nation’s manufacturing sector.  With the American automobile industry a national leader in annual research and development spending and employing over 500,000 highly skilled workers, keeping the current tariff in place is crucial to supporting American manufacturing.

Kildee has been a leader in Congressional efforts to protect the light truck tariff.  In April, over 200 bipartisan Members of Congress co-signed Kildee’s letter to USTR warning of the potential negative impact in American truck manufacturing if bilateral negotiations with Thailand led to a change in U.S. tariff provisions.

“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,” Kildee concluded.  “Maintaining the current pickup tariff in the U.S.-Thailand FTA is vital to the future of the U.S. automobile industry.”