Departments
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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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