U.S. automakers continue to build their case against Japan's entry into an Asia-Pacific trade deal with a new report showing thousands in job losses and a drop in U.S. production.
A Center for Automotive Research (CAR) study released on Tuesday stacks up figures showing that the addition of Japan to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations would cost about 26,500 jobs and 65,000 vehicles from U.S. production, while boosting Japanese vehicle exports to the United States by about 105,000 a year, or by $2.2 billion.
However, the forecast of production and employment losses in the case of a change in the exchange rate along with the 2.5 percent tariff elimination would lead to larger U.S. losses — about 225,000 units of vehicle production and about 91,500 jobs — 26,500 from entry into the trade deal and the other 65,000 from an appreciation of the yen.?
“The combination of an FTA between the U.S. and Japan and a significant depreciation of the yen versus the dollar would have serious effects on production and employment in the U.S. auto industry,” said Sean McAlinden, executive vice president of research and chief economist at CAR.