Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 17:17:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Paul M. Johnson" <pjohnson@domain.elided>
Subject: Re: Autodelta, and the laws
US laws and regulations are only partly to ensure safe clean vehicles
enter the US. The other part is protectionism. The US Automakers whant
to keep as much competition out of the US as possible and thus have
persuded the Federal government to errect certain entry arriers to
companies seeking to enter the mark. Don't kid yourself if you think the
US supports free trade just for its sake. The US seeks free trade when
it is in its best interest.
While protecting US carmakers has a lot to do with the rules in the
first place, the end of the '80s gray market era (in which many rules
were relaxed for personal importations) came about for the clear
purpose of protecting the American importers of cars that were
becoming increasingly popular to import personally. I believe it was
Mercedes Benz USA who threw a fit and got the laws changed to ensure
they made a killing on EVERY new M-B coming into the USA.