Tiffs on Trade

New tactics to fight imports

If you can't beat them, get them thrown out of the game. That seems to be the strategy adopted by the United Auto Workers against Japanese companies that this year have wrested away 21.5% of the U.S. car market. With 215,000 of its 1.1 million members out of work, the U.A.W. is pushing hard for new quotas and tariff barriers to block imports. At the same time, the union has mounted a nationwide campaign that pressures both the public and the politicians who control government purse strings to pass up fuel-thrifty Japanese models and buy American.

The U.A.W.'s efforts paid off last week in New Jersey. When the state's purchase and property division decided to buy 450 Datsun 210s because they were $700 per car cheaper than comparable American cars, autoworkers immediately strung picket lines around the statehouse in Trenton and demanded that the deal be quashed. On the second day of the protest, both houses of the legislature unanimously passed a hastily drafted bill to prohibit the state from buying any cars not assembled in the U.S.

Political concerns for American auto-workers also found their way into the presidential campaign last week. First, Donald Reagan urged the Carter Adminstration to speed up federal purchases of U.S.-made cars and trucks. After quick prodding from the White House, the General Services Administration announced that it would ask Congress for an extra $100 million to procure about 21,600 vehicles ahead of schedule. Moreover, the GSA said that the Government may stop buying Japanese pickup trucks.

The autoworkers, along with the Ford Motor Co., also protested against foreign cars last week in hearings before the U.S. International Trade Commission. The union and Ford demanded that the number of Japanese imports, now running about 2 million a year, be cut by a third and that the tariff on foreign cars be increased from 2.9% to 20%. Representatives of the Federal Trade Commission said that higher tariffs or limits on Japanese imports would cost U.S. consumers at least $3 billion a year while preserving at most 69,000 jobs for American autoworkers. The FTC estimates that those steps would raise the price of a $7,000 Japanese car in this country by at least $500. Fewer imports would also reduce competition and allow U.S. automakers to hike the prices of their vehicles.

The International Trade Commission will decide in late November whether or not imports have seriously damaged U.S. automakers. If it rules that they have, President Carter can then impose restrictions on foreign products. Such protectionism might give Detroit some temporary relief from tough competition, but that is not the way to cure the ills of the American auto industry.

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