 | EU seeks sanctions against U.S.
The European Union is asking the World Trade Organization to approve US$311 million in sanctions on U.S. goods in retaliation for American anti-dumping calculations the trade body says break global rules. |
| | China to Penalize U.S. Chicken Imports
China, the largest market for U.S. chicken exports, plans to impose anti-dumping tariffs of up to 105.4 percent on U.S. broiler chicken imports, starting Feb. 13, that country’s Ministry of Commerce said Friday. In a statement on its Web site, the ministry said the poultry products had been dumped at unfair prices onto the China market, causing "substantial damage" to the domestic chicken industry. |
| | Feingold calls for Buy American provision in jobs bill
Feingold is also the author of the Buy American Improvement Act. This legislation would help close loopholes in the 1933 Buy American Act that have allowed federal agencies to circumvent Buy American requirements. |
| | Lexus hybrid brakes under scrutiny in Toyota investigation
Toyota Motor Corp.'s investigation into brake problems with its Prius hybrid bled over to the Prius' upscale cousin, the Lexus HS 250h hybrid, on Thursday. |
| | Toyota’s Recall Antics Spread Virally
You have to see this John Stewart video on Comedy Central…he’s pretty brutal on Toyota. |
| | BAMW: Toyota finally takes their turn in the barrel
Orlando Sentinel Automotive Editor Steven Cole Smith once told me of a friend he was consoling who worked in public relations at Ford when the automaker was going through a crisis. |
| | Toyota sales off 16% after recalls
Honda sales also down 5%. So who gained ground last month at Toyota’s expense? Number one automaker GM sales rose 14% (21% market share), and Ford reclaimed status as the nation’s number two automaker (16.7% market share) by securing a sales gain of 25%. |
| | Apple's Wozniak: Toyota may have software trouble
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak suggested Tuesday in media interviews that Toyota's troubles with a defective accelerator pedal may have to do with software, after his Prius sped up while in cruise-control. "Since my foot never touches the pedal," Wozniak told ABC News, the problem "cannot be a sticky accelerator pedal.... There might be some bad software in there." |
| | Venezuela’s Chavez to Automakers: Do what I say or 'pack up and leave.'
Most of Chavez's ire was directed at Toyota, but all foreign automakers were threatened. GM currently leads the Venezuelan market. "Companies who come here to set up must be ready to transfer technology to us," Chavez said. "If they don't want to, they should go away. I invite them to pack up their belongings and leave." |
| | BAMW: China replaces lead with cadmium in children's jewelry
Just when you thought the turmoil with unsafe toys from China was terminated and you thought your children could safely play with any toy imported from anywhere, we learn that Chinese producers have replaced lead with hazardous levels of cadmium. |
| | Industry Group Says 'Buy America' Provisions Are Necessary for U.S. Jobs
Buy America provisions ensure that U.S. tax dollars are directed to purchase American-made manufactured goods to the extent permitted under international trade obligations. A strong majority of Americans (84%, according to a 2009 poll) support requirements for American-made materials in all federally funded infrastructure investment. |
| | Consumer Reports Pulls Some Toyota Recommendations
Consumer Reports, an influential publication for car buyers, has temporarily suspended its "recommended" status for eight recalled Toyota models because of faulty gas pedal systems, dealing another blow to the Japanese automaker's reputation in the United States. |
| | Toyota Speed-Up Suits Say Problem Goes Deeper Than Gas Pedal
Plaintiffs' lawyers claim that Toyota knew of the sudden acceleration problem for years before the November recall. "First they blamed it on the driver, then it was the floor mats, then the accelerator pedal, and now they're shutting down the plants," Edgar Heiskell, one of the attorneys in the West Virginia case, said yesterday in a phone interview. "Toyota's position has changed at least three times." |
| | Doubt cast on Toyota's decision to blame sudden acceleration on gas pedal defect
Toyota Motor Corp.'s decision to blame its widening sudden-acceleration problem on a gas pedal defect came under attack Friday, with the pedal manufacturer flatly denying that its products were at fault. "The way the sudden-acceleration problems are occurring in reported incidents doesn't comport with how this sticky pedal is described," said Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, a Rehoboth, Mass., auto safety consulting firm. "We know this recall is a red herring." |
| | Congressional investigators probe Toyota's runaway cars
Officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have been wrangling for at least five years with the automaker over complaints that cars were accelerating without cause, according to the Center for Auto Safety. |
| | Honda recalls 646,000 cars for fire hazard
Fresh on the heels of Toyota temporarily halting sales of eight models over concerns about accelerator pedals sticking, Honda announced Friday a voluntary recall of 646,000 cars worldwide to examine window switches that can melt or catch fire when exposed to an extreme amount of liquid. |
| | Traficant keen on returning to political life
"I'm gonna run," Traficant said. "I don't know where I'm going to run. I don't know what I'm going to run as. But I'm running for, not against. And I'm gonna ask 'em to surrender nice. If they don't, then I'm gonna take 'em to the mat and try to beat the hell out of 'em." |
| | Toyota concedes quality took back seat to 'speedy moves' to global growth
Last week, Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles (the eight models it stopped making on Tuesday) and late last year it recalled as many as 4.3 million vehicles. Some of the recalls were to fix gas pedals, and some were to replace floor mats that could jam the pedals. |
| | Camry red flag raised in 2004
As early as 2004, authorities investigated reports of unintended acceleration in Toyota's best-selling model, the Camry. |
| | Ford Posts First Annual Profit Since 2005
The company will have to shrink its total debt which stood at $36.8 billion at the end of the year, almost twice the size of General Motors which, along with Chrysler, filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year. |
| | Glassmaking Thrives Offshore, but Is Declining in U.S.
The majestic steel beams of a soaring office tower beginning to rise from the ruins of the World Trade Center are a tribute to American resilience, but also a marker in the decline of yet another industry. Not an inch of imported glass went into the two lost towers, built 40 years ago. The lower floors of the new one will soon be sheathed in Chinese glass. |
| | Fallout grows in Toyota sales halt
Toyota took the extraordinary step of halting the sale of the vehicles late Tuesday over issues of "sticky acceleration pedals" because it hasn't yet found a fix. Those eight models accounted for nearly 60 percent of its U.S. sales last year. Toyota has been looking at the issue of sticky pedals since 2007. Avis-Budget Group said it is removing about 20,000 recalled Toyota vehicles from its fleet. |
| | 'Made in USA': Simple in theory, costly in practice
A new state law prohibits cities, counties, the state and other "public employers" from buying uniforms or safety equipment made outside the United States. |
| | Toyota Suspends Sales of 8 Models after Accelerator Pedals Keep Sticking
Toyota has suspended sales of eight of its most popular vehicle models while the motor company investigates sticking accelerator pedals, following reports by ABC News' Brian Ross that examined incidents of random acceleration, some of which resulted in fatalities. |
| | The Glass Industry, Domestic and Foreign
The American glass industry is not dead, but unfortunately Carlisle PPG, a company in the state of Pennsylvania, bid for and lost the contract for the World Trade Center site. The effect of Chinese subsidies and market manipulation can’t be underestimated. |
| | America Absolutely Needs a National Manufacturing Policy, Urges Senator Sherrod Brown
Trade should be practiced in accordance with our national interest, not according to some economic textbook that has been out of print for 20 years. |
| | Fair Trade With China Means Jobs In Lorain
America's steel industry is one of the most competitive industries in the world, having tripled productivity since the 1980s, increased its energy efficiency by about one-third since 1990 and reduced air and water emissions by 90 percent. |
| | U.S pork rind makers angry over imports
"How essential is it that we start importing pork rinds from countries that have really bad diseases?" said Dave Griswold, a veterinarian at the Bureau of Animal Health in Pennsylvania's Department of Agriculture. |
| | U.S. fish importer admits tariff evasion
Sterling Seafood Corp. Chief Executive Officer Thomas George admitted that from 2004 to 2006 he evaded an anti-dumping tariff imposed on imported Vietnamese catfish by having it labeled as grouper, which was not subject to the special duties, avoiding more than $60 million in anti-dumping tariffs. |
| | BAMW: American assets continue to fall into Chinese hands
As the U.S. economy seeks to secure some sense of stability, more American assets are falling into the eager, acquisitive hands of Chinese-controlled companies. |
| | Chinese unchecked
Chinese manufacturers of children's jewelry, recently forced to stop using lead in their wares, are now substituting cadmium. Cadmium, a carcinogen known to hinder brain development in the very young, is just as dangerous to children as lead, but the United States has never banned its specific use in jewelry. |
| | AP Enterprise: US buyers must beware in China
Paul Midler, author of the new book "Poorly Made in China" and who worked for an American company that was making shampoo and skin lotion at a Chinese factory, describes in his book how a Chinese factory was caught changing the formula for products without consulting the U.S. company. Its Chinese partner also unilaterally decided to use thinner plastic bottles to save money. |
| | Building Blocks of MLK Jr. Memorial Made in China
Since made-in-China American flags have been used in the memorial services of those that have paid the ultimate price in Iraq and Afghanistan, perhaps this is not such a surprise. |
| | BAMW: Foreign investment can turn the American economy Chinese
If you've ever bought seemingly innocent consumer products like a Frisbee or a Hula-Hoop, typical food products for your family like Pilgrim's Pride poultry, or an American-made Haier refrigerator, you're a supporting participant in foreign investment in the American economy. |
