U.S. Carmakers Want Access to Korea

The U.S. auto industry is raising pressure on the Korean market. Senators and representatives of Michigan, the center of the U.S. motor industry, urged the White House to take stronger action to open up the auto market in Korea on November 22 local time. Earlier, CEOs of the industry’s “big three,” namely General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, and Ford, paid a visit to the White House on November 14 and had a one-hour meeting with President Bush and Vice President Cheney to call for addressing the “closeness” of the Korean auto market. President Bush implicitly said that U.S. carmakers should manufacture “relevant cars” like foreign competitors. Republicans from Alabama, where Hyundai Motors operates it plants, and Tennessee, where Japanese carmakers have clustered, objected to Detroit’s demand. Some in the country are not sympathetic, either. They think that fixing Korea’s automobile tax system will not make much difference as the benefits might go to German and Japanese makers. However, no one publicly speaks up for fear of the “big three” companies.

sechepa@donga.com