Thread: Communist China to Build Trucks in Mexico by 2009

Communist China is also, well, now exploiting a gapping loophole in that wonderful trade arrangement called NAFTA. Are you ready? One of China's largest car makers is about to build an assembly plant in Tijuana, Mexico, the purpose? To build and export vehicles into the United States. And it will be duty-free.

Bill Tucker is here now with more on this amazing story. Bill, this is just more of the same. This administration has to be filled with the greatest aggregation of complete mindless bureaucrats in the history of this government.

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this should be a big, giant wakeup call, a shot across the bow, because this is a $300 million investment in an assembly plant to build sport utility vehicles and trucks down in Mexico, Lou.

Now Zhongxing will be the first Chinese automaker to build an assembly plant down there. It will be right across the U.S./Mexico border with Tijuana with an annual production of 150,000 vehicles beginning in 2009, roughly 37,000 of those will be exported to the United States.

And as you mentioned, they will come in tariff-free. Trade economist Peter Marichi (ph) at the University of Maryland points out that Mexico is in, quote, an excellent export platform for the Chinese because they can - exploit, excuse me, a number of free trade agreements. Under NAFTA, Zhongxing will gain access not only to the U.S. market but to Mexico's other trade agreement markets, those vehicles can be shipped duty free to Central America, South America and Europe.

So far the company says it has agreements for dealerships in seven states, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Florida, Ohio, Colorado. Trade economist Alan Tonelson says we have no one to blame but ourselves, Lou.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN TONELSON, U.S. BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL: Our China trade policy has so inept we've enabled China to earn the kind of money that can finance the establishment of manufacturing operations in Mexico and elsewhere around the world to service the U.S. market. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER: Now, in building the plant in Mexico, China gets around a trade barrier explicitly in place to protect the U.S. truck market. If the trucks were exported from China, they would face a 25 percent tariff. But built in Mexico, they face none.

Zhongxing is promising, Lou, that its vehicles will be cheaper than similar models made by U.S. and international automakers. I think probably they will be, Lou.

DOBBS: This -- I don't know what any of the labor organizations think -- the car makers think. It's just absolutely mystifying how stupid the U.S. Trade Representative's office is, how stupid U.S. policy is. And the great thing about this, Bill, the great thing about this is, these idiots that have driven all of the money and investment and jobs to China over the last 15 years, just about, have done so at the expense of Mexico, which under the terms of NAFTA, we were to bring our capital and invest in Mexico.

So now we have a middleman and that middleman is China, which is doing the appropriate thing that the United States should have been pursuing for more than a decade. This is -- this government -- I cannot tell you how disgusted I am with what they purport to be, a government. It's incredible. How soon does the plank go up?

TUCKER: They expect to begin importing or exporting vehicles to the United States in 2009.

DOBBS: So they've got to get to work on the plant right away.

TUCKER: Yes.

DOBBS: Absolutely. We wouldn't want any delay on any further brilliant moves by this administration. Unbelievable. Bill Tucker, thank you.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... dt.01.html

NAFTA need to go with the illegals. It is not helping anyone and most certainly not americans.

This is an absolute outrage and hopefully our lawmakers have enough common sense and decency to do something about it! Our automative manufacturing industry employees can't afford to take a hit like this. Next thing you know, the United States will cease to manufacture vehicles in the U.S. Why would anyone want to pay $20+ dollars an hour for labor when they can just move their manufacturing jobs next door to Mexico and pay $4-6 dollars an hour for labor? Actually, U.S. auto manufacturing won't have a choice because they have to compete or they'll go bust. This free trade crap has got to end because American citizens are the big losers!

ELECT DUNCAN HUNTER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. He has promised to bring free trade to a halt and enact fair trade!