Foreign Automakers Target Ads Directly At President Trump's Buy American Policy

When he switches on his television in the morning, President Donald Trump could see a new side of the foreign automakers he has lashed out against.

Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG and other foreign carmakers joined forces for a commercial touting their American-made vehicles. The spot, with gauzy images from the U.S. factories of those overseas companies, will run for several weeks on shows like MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" and Fox News’ "Fox and Friends." Trump is known as a voracious consumer of cable news, and has reacted on Twitter to both of those shows.

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TheSteve - 6/8/2017 3:33:34 PM

+3 Boost

My understanding is that it's not just foreign automakers that are "sliding." The whole auto sector, worldwide, is slowing.

Any specific observer will interpret this differently, depending on their "understanding" of things (i.e., their beliefs). For example, The Prez noted ONLY a reduction of American car sales in America, and blasted the German brands for selling too many cars in America (FYI, all German brands combined account for single-digit U.S. market share).

We've been here before! America has experienced a number of "Buy American" cycles in the auto sector. The Japanese had an unfair advantage (small, fuel efficient cars) during the Energy Crisis of the 1970s. Then they had an unfair advantage (cheap labor, cheap yen) in the 1980s. It's always someone else's fault that the American auto industry is hurting. Even after Chrysler's two bankruptcies and GM's one, and even after the massive multi-billion dollar bailouts to those giga-corporations, many Americans still believe "the foreigners" are to blame for the American auto experience.

MDarringer - 6/8/2017 4:48:56 PM

-1 Boost

@TheSteve, have you ever thought of moving to Canada?