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Support Block On Thailand Free Trade Agreement

Representatives Kildee, Quinn and Levin and Senators Levin and Voinovich have introduced resolutions (H. Con. Res. 366 in the House and S. Con Res. 90 in the Senate) to head off the threat to the jobs of tens of thousands of UAW members and other automotive workers posed by the U.S.-Thailand free trade agreement. Please call your Representative and Senators right away. Urge them to cosponsor the Kildee-Quinn-Levin or Levin-Voinovich resolutions.

Tell them to stand up for the jobs of tens of thousands of American workers who assemble or make parts for pickup trucks, by cosponsoring these resolutions and opposing any reduction or elimination of the 25 percent tariff on imported pickup trucks! You can contact your Representative and Senators by calling, toll free, 1-877-331-2000. Below are some talking points on this critically important issue.

Also, see the UAW's D.C. Link on this issue at: http://www.uaw.org/dclink/dcstory.cfm?DcId=111 Thanks for all your help!

Talking PointsThailand Truck Threat


· Thailand is the second leading producer of pickup trucks in the world, with production approaching one million units annually .

· Japanese automakers already use Thailand as a major source for their pickup truck production. Thailand is also actively recruiting South Korean and Indian companies to locate production in Thailand.

· The U.S. currently imposes a 25 percent tariff on imported pickup trucks.

· The Bush administration has announced its intention to negotiate a free trade deal with Thailand.

· If this free trade deal reduced or eliminated the 25 percent tariff on imported pickup trucks, we could be flooded with a surge of imported pickup trucks from Thailand.

· In particular, there is a danger that Japan, South Korea and India could use Thailand as a backdoor into the U.S. pickup truck market.

· This would threaten the jobs of 20,000 UAW members who work in plants that assemble pickup trucks in this country, as well as thousands more UAW members and other American workers who produce engines, transmissions, stampings and other parts for these pickup trucks.

· To prevent this, the Kildee-Quinn-Levin and Levin-Voinovich resolutions (H. Con. Res. 366; S. Con Res. 90) express the sense of Congress that negotiations on automotive issues should not be done on a piece-meal basis through bilateral trade deals (such as the U.S.-Thailand free trade deal), but rather should only be handled through comprehensive negotiations between all automobile producing nations. This effectively means that any U.S.-Thailand trade deal should not reduce or eliminate the 25 percent tariff on imported pickup trucks.

 
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