Trends Confirm Warnings About Weakening Yen's Effect on U.S. Economy
11 December 1997
Trends Confirm Warnings About Weakening Yen's Effect on U.S. Economy
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 -- The following statement was issued
today by Andrew H. Card, Jr., President and CEO of the American Automobile
Manufacturers Association (AAMA), in response to recent economic news from
Japan.
"Japan's Finance Ministry announced yesterday that its current account
surplus soared more than 220 percent in November, led by rising exports of
autos and computers. Meanwhile, this week the yen/dollar exchange rate fell
to Y130:$l, a 39 percent depreciation from its high over a year ago.
"These are not just numbers which should interest economists and financial
analysts. They are having a real impact on business decisions, and in ways
which will start hitting American workers. Take one example: Honda builds its
Accord passenger car in both U.S. and Japanese plants. So far in 1997, sales
of Accords built by Honda in Japan have soared by over 5000 percent, while at
the same time Honda cut production of the Accords built in the U.S. by almost
5 percent. That's what a weaker and weaker yen could mean for many U.S.
businesses, from agriculture to electronics, which are impacted by U.S.-Japan
trade patterns.
"The Japanese government has promised all year that it would not seek to
export its economic problems but take tough steps at home to stimulate demand.
But the evidence to date shows only the opposite -- the yen continues to fall,
exports continue to surge, and the government has enacted no meaningful tax or
deregulatory reforms. Japan's track record for 1997 scores high on reassuring
talk and extremely low on follow-through. This is not a record that the
United States should accept in 1998."
AAMA is the trade association whose members are Chrysler Corporation
, Ford Motor Company , and General Motors Corporation
. The AAMA site on the World Wide Web can be reached at
http://www.aama.com.
SOURCE American Automobile Manufacturers Association