Car States Balk at Trade Pact

The Wall Street Journal (online registration required): President Barack Obama’s Pacific trade agreement is raising alarms not only in Michigan and surrounding states dominated by Detroit’s Big Three, but also farther south where backers of Japanese car makers worry about the fate of current and future plants in the region.

The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership among the U.S. and 11 other countries would lower tariffs on imported cars from Japan as part of a much broader agreement to cut trade barriers and abide by a set of shared commercial rules. At the same time, the U.S. could agree to reduce or eliminate its import tariffs on cars, trucks and parts in 10 years or less.

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