WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump prepares to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Ohio members of Congress are eager to offer him unsolicited advice.
On Thursday, U.S. Sens. Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown sent a letter that urged Trump to address trade barriers that disadvantage Ohio automakers.
They noted that 70 percent of the United States’ $70 billion yearly trade deficit with Japan is because of motor vehicle imports, while foreign vehicles have only a 6.7 percent share of Japan’s market. Japan exported nearly 1.6 million vehicles to the United States in 2015, while importing just 20,000 of American vehicles, they said.
In particular, the pair suggested that Trump “address currency manipulation and auto-related non-tariff barriers” in his discussions with Abe.
“The U.S.-Japan auto-trade relationship hurts American companies and workers and should be addressed with urgency,” they wrote.
In a separate statement issued with several other senate Democrats, Brown also urged Trump to use American products, not those from Japan, as he makes good on his pledge to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.
“Borrowing money from Japan is not the way to create American jobs,” said a statement Brown relased with Delaware’s Tom Carper, Vermont’s Patrick Leahy and Oregon’s Ron Wyden. “We urge President Trump to reject foreign investment gimmicks and instead work with us to keep his promise to the American people by investing in American infrastructure, built with American iron and steel.
Japan’s PM Abe ‘seeks trust with Trump’ on US visit https://t.co/bTSTtQOjVS
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 10, 2017
Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur teamed up with Democrats Sander Levin of Michigan and Bill Pascrell of New Jersey on a letter to protest Japan’s treatment of U.S. auto makers.
They said Japan’s auto makers use a protected home market to sell their products at high prices in Japan and use proceeds from those sales to offer lower prices in the United States.
“Any increased investment in the U.S. by Japanese companies does not excuse the unfair treatment of U.S. exports to Japan,” they wrote “Discussions of a bi-lateral trade agreement must hold as a starting point the requirement of real change.”
Trump is scheduled to hold a 1 p.m. press conference with Abe in Washington, and later depart for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for further meetings.
In a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce before his White House meeting, Abe said that facilities operated by Japanese companies like Toyota and Honda generate about 840,000 jobs in the United States.
He also said he wants to “firmly build a relationship of trust at the leadership level with my visit to the United States, and to show to our people and the world the unwavering alliance between Japan and the United States.”
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