Dealer Group Back from
Thailand
Ward's Dealer Business, Feb 1, 2006
An American International Automobile
Dealers Assn. delegation is
back from Thailand where it
traveled last month for a sixth
round of negotiations on a proposed
free-trade agreement between
that country and the U.S.
The Office of the U.S. Trade
Representative invited the delegation
to Thailand where it is attempting
to increase awareness among
Thais of the role international
nameplate auto dealers play
in trying to repeal a 25% tariff
on pickup trucks imported to
the U.S.
"Our association was founded
nearly four decades ago by VW
dealers to specifically lobby
against this tariff," says
AIADA Chairman Don Hicks.
The tariff is a holdover from
a trade dispute dating to Lyndon
Johnson's presidency. It was
a retaliatory move against Germany
for its treatment of U.S. frozen
chicken exports.
In Thailand, AIADA members
and staffers met with U.S. and
Thai trade negotiators to discuss
efforts to repeal the 25% tariff.
Thailand is the world's second
largest producer of pickup trucks
behind the U.S.