Lawmakers from key automaking states have expressed opposition to a proposed deal with Japan to reduce vehicle tariffs and loosen restrictions, Bloomberg reports.

The deal, which allows Japan to join Pacific-region trade talks, doesn't do enough to indicate Japan will open its auto market to foreign competitors, Representative Sander Levin, D-Michigan, said in a conference call, according to the news agency.

The move would phase out U.S. tariffs on Japanese vehicles, while Japan would loosen restrictions on American vehicles it accepts.

Japan is afforded an unfair trade advantage by restricting imports and devaluing its currency, Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, said in a press release.

“The administration can’t allow Japan’s entry to the Trans-Pacific Partnership to undermine the impressive gains made by the American auto industry,” Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a press release.

April 15, 2013

Source: Columbus Business First

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