October 02, 2013

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) today ran full-page ads in Politico and The Hill highlighting that bipartisan majorities in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate support the inclusion of strong and enforceable rules in trade agreements that will prevent currency manipulation.

"A broad, bipartisan majority of the U.S. Congress is calling for strict currency manipulation rules in the TPP," said Matt Blunt, president of AAPC. "Enforceable, strong rules are critical to reaching a high-standard agreement that can be supported by the U.S. auto industry."

The House letter was signed by 230 U.S. House members, and the Senate letter was signed by 60 U.S. Senators. The ad and letters send a strong signal to the White House that measures to combat currency manipulation are imperative for job growth as President Obama heads to the APEC Summit this week where he will meet with leaders of the other 11 countries that are part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.

The ad was in response to a majority of the U.S. Senate last week sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman calling for "foreign currency manipulation disciplines to ensure these agreements meet the high standards our country, America's companies and America's workers deserve."

A similar letter was sent in May from a majority of Members of the House which said, "Undervalued exchange rates allow other countries to boost exports of their products and to impede exports of ours."

The Senate letter can be found here, the House letter can be found here and the advertisement can be found here.