Obama Fiddles while China Gets Jeep

[Geee]

American Thinker:

In December 2011, a few American-made vehicles were getting over China's high 25% tariff barrier, so the Chinese government raised the barrier. According to The Guardian, China raised its tariffs on GM cars by as much as 22% and on Chrysler cars by as much as 15%:

General Motors faces the greatest impact, almost 22% extra on some sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and other cars with engine capacities above 2.5 litres. Chrysler faces a 15% penalty, while a 2% levy will be imposed on BMW, whose US plants make many of the cars it exports to China.

Existing taxes and duties already push up the cost of US imports by 25%, and the new levies make it even more expensive for Chinese consumers to buy American.

GM caved in April when it agreed to build several new Cadillac factories in China. Chrysler caved last week. On October 22, Bloomberg reported that Fiat, Chrysler's owner, is preparing to build new Jeep factories in China and may eventually import Jeeps from China. Here is how the Bloomberg article began:

Fiat SpA (F), majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC, plans to return Jeep output to China and may eventually make all of its models in that country, according to the head of both automakers' operations in the region.

[Geee]

Romney, the Carmakers, China, and All That

 

 

In the last week of the presidential campaign, this is where we stand: Former Chrysler boss and Carter-era bailout baby Lee Iacocca says Mitt Romney is the better presidential candidate. Union boss and Obama-era bailout baby Bob King strongly disagrees, and repeats some dishonest to half-dishonest allegations about Romney’s relationship with the automotive business.

 

To begin with, King attributes Mein Kampf thinking to Romney, saying that the candidate was engaged in a “big lie” strategy by suggesting that Chrysler’s owners were considering moving Jeep production to China. Indeed, this accusation has been a favorite of Democrats and their media factota in the past couple of days, and Chrysler has publicly denied that it has any such plans. So where would Romney get a crazy idea like that? From the people who own Chrysler, of course. As Bloomberg reported: “Fiat SpA, majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC, plans to return Jeep output to China and may eventually make all of its models in that country, according to the head of both automakers’ operations in the region.” Which is to say that the owners of Chrysler, a firm with a great debt to the Obama administration, were openly contemplating shifting Jeep operations to China — right up until the second that fact became embarrassing to the Obama administration. Now they say that they are considering no such thing. Check back in after the election for a straight answer on that question: You can be sure that one will not be forthcoming before then.

 

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/332250/romney-carmakers-china-and-all-kevin-d-williamson