Stabenow Urges Obama to Tackle Japanese, South Korean Auto Protectionism

It's not the first time a U.S. politician has criticized Japan and South Korea for unfairly blocking sales of U.S. cars, but this time the complaints is aimed at eco-protectionism.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat with strong ties to the U.S. auto industry, has asked President Obama to protest policies that effectively bar U.S. cars from being sold under those countries' cash for clunkers programs.

In a letter sent Friday to the president, Stabenow complains that while the U.S. clunkers program was open to all car sold here, import regulations in Japan and tariffs in South Korea make it all but impossible for Japanese and Korean motorists to buy an American-made car under their countries' clunker programs.

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Sen. Debbie Stabenow worries that green cars like GM's Chevrolet Volt could be barred from Japanese and South Korean markets under protectionist policies.

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"We followed international law and made [the U.S. program] apply to all cars sold in the United States, not just American cars," Stabenow wrote. "That is why it is so outrageous that Japan and [South] Korea would have the audacity to implement similar programs that discriminate against American automakers."

You can read the entire letter here.

Stabenow is asking Obama to "remind" Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak "of their obligations under the WTO," or World Trade Organization charter, promoting fair and equal trade.

Missing from Stabeow's letter is this distressing set of statistics, passed along by IHS Global Insight:

In Japan, no imported cars qualify for the government's green-car tax breaks, and only 30 percent of imports are eligible under the buyer subsidies, or clunker, program. But 40 percent of domestically produced vehicles benefit from the tax breaks, and almost 90 percent are eligible for the buyer subsidies.

In contrast, Japanese cars and SUVs accounted for half the new-vehicle sales in the U.S. during the recently completed cash for clunkers program here.

The issue of automotive protectionism has been around a long time, but resolving it has never been more critical.

As we enter an era in which we are struggling to reduce the automobile's environmental footprint, the ability to sell unhampered in overseas markets creates opportunities that will encourage automakers  - ours and theirs - to innovate and develop ever-greener vehicles.

Artificially limiting U.S. automakers' access to Japan, South Korea or other markets hat are demanding fuel efficient and petroleum-free cars and trucks reduces their incentive to produce them.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Posted by

John O'Dell September 21, 2009, 11:02 AM

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Green Vehicles, Japan, Opinion

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Debbie Stabenow, Green Cars, Japanese Protectionism