Obama
touts auto bailout success, Michigan worries about trade
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[January 08, 2015]
By Jeff Mason
WAYNE, Mich. (Reuters) - President Barack
Obama, on a trip to unveil elements of his State of the Union address,
took a victory lap in Michigan on Wednesday to tout his support of the
auto industry, but concerns about trade policies hung in the background
of his tour.
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"America's resurgence is real," Obama said at a Ford Motor Co
plant near Detroit after walking around the factory and sitting in a
Mustang.
Obama noted that his government-backed bailout of the auto industry
was not popular, even in Michigan, but had been a success.
"Betting on you was the right thing to do," he told cheering workers
at the plant. "That bet has paid off for America."
Obama will deliver his State of the Union address on Jan. 20 to the
new Congress which, for the first time in his presidency, is
controlled completely by Republicans. The White House hopes he can
make progress on issues such as tax reform, infrastructure
investments, and trade with lawmakers.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jan/08/images/ads/current/class_money_bch.png) But his push for new trade agreements is controversial in Michigan,
where advocates and local officials say a Korean free trade
agreement has helped that country's auto industry significantly more
than the U.S. sector.
"That agreement generally has just slammed Michigan," said Lori
Wallach, director of Global Trade Watch, an advocacy group, in an
interview.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest, without commenting specifically
on how the Korean auto industry had benefited, said the success of
U.S. car companies in the last few years showed that they had not
suffered as a result of the agreement.
Obama's administration is pushing for a 12-country free trade
agreement in the Asia-Pacific known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP.)
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Critics of such pacts argue that they would hurt manufacturing jobs
like those in the resurgent auto industry.
"I have grave concerns about trade policy and the implications for
our manufacturing base," said U.S. Congressman Dan Kildee of
Michigan, a fellow Democrat, in an interview before Obama's trip.
"I think (Obama) will find that many in Detroit share the concern
that I've articulated that these trade agreements ... often have the
effect of undermining the core of our economy, which I think is
manufacturing," he said.
Obama did not concentrate on trade in his speech. On Thursday, his
second day of the trip, he plans to unveil housing measures that
would widen access to mortgages.
(Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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