U.S. Automakers Urge G-7 Finance Ministers to put Misaligned Japanese Yen on Agenda

WASHINGTON--Stephen J. Collins, President of the Automotive Trade Policy Council (ATPC), speaking on behalf of General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler, urged G7 finance ministers to engage in a “frank and long overdue discussion” of the damaging effects of the weak yen during their May 18-19 meeting in Potsdam, Germany.

Collins said that Congress has given notice that it will not stand aside if the U.S. government continues to turn a blind eye to Japan's beggar-thy-neighbor currency and trade practices. Yesterday (May 17), House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander Levin (D-MI) sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab asking Schwab to “consider taking action” to get Japan to raise the value of the yen.

The imbalanced Japanese yen was also a central topic of discussion at an unusual tri-partite Congressional last week conducted jointly by the House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Trade; the Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology; and the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

“There is a growing consensus around the world that Japan must take action to realign the yen to a level that represents its true economic value,” said Collins. “When U.S. Treasury officials join their G-7 counterparts in Potsdam this weekend, they have yet another opportunity to confront an issue that economists from around the world are coming to view as a growing threat to the global economy.”

“Japan spent over $500 billion purchasing dollars to successfully push down the value of the yen and now is trying to convince the world that its weak yen is a result of free market forces,” said Collins. “The fact is that currencies ranging from the Euro and the British pound to the Canadian dollar and Korean won have all risen against the U.S. dollar while the yen has hit twenty year lows against the dollar. The numbers just don’t add up to a yen that reflects free market forces at work.”

For additional information, please visit www.autoyensubsidy.org or call 202-631-8962.

The Automotive Trade Policy Council, Inc. (ATPC) is a Washington, D.C.- based non profit trade association that represents the common international economic, trade and investment interests of its member companies: DaimlerChrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation.