Heritage Foundation:

Toyota recently announced it will begin exporting U.S.-built Camry cars and Sienna minivans to South Korea from plants located in Kentucky and Indiana. The cars will be shipped through the Port of Hueneme—ironically, one of the California ports that Occupy Wall Street protestors recently attempted to shut down.

Some people may wonder why Toyota would ship U.S.-built cars 7,000 miles to South Korea instead of shipping Japanese-built cars 130 miles across the Korean Strait.

One reason is the recently approved the South Korea–U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), which reduces South Korea’s tariff on passenger vehicles from 8 percent to 4 percent, and eventually to zero. Tariff reductions in KORUS make U.S.-manufactured cars more affordable in South Korea, while also making Korean-manufactured autos more affordable in the United States.

Critics called KORUS a disaster: “Americans need jobs, but it is impossible for them to support their families if they are forced to compete against workers earning almost non-existent wage rates.” Toyota’s employees in Kentucky and Indiana would surely disagree.

Read more HERE.