Remember the good old days when the US was committed to free trade, and constantly complained about Japanese protectionism? Those days are long gone, as the US is now a world leader in national bailouts and it has become Japan’s turn to stand on free-trade principle. Detroit News‘s Christine Tierney reports that Japan has no interest in joining China, Germany, France, Russia and the US in subsidizing either production or consumption of vehicles. “We regard the auto industry as very independent from the government,” said Noriyuki Shikata, director of the Second North America Division at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Our government hasn’t extended massive subsidies to companies. A company like Toyota has accumulated some cash and should be able to survive.”

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Holy printing press Batman! Those are some serious spondoolies! Or are we at the point now where $10b worth of federal largess for the U.S. auto industry is just another day at the office? Automotive News [AN] sure seems non-plussed. “The companies will ask for the loans to be funneled through the Detroit 3 so suppliers can be paid in 10 days for parts delivered instead of the usual 45 days, said Neil De Koker, president of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association in suburban Detroit. The association also will ask the Treasury Department to guarantee certain supplier receivables so parts makers can use that owed money to borrow the working capital they need to operate, De Koker said.” So Uncle Sam loans $10b to companies to supply automakers to whom we’ve already loaned $13.4b, who aren’t selling Jack at the moment, whose “viability plans” have yet to be scrutinized. Makes sense to De Koker, ’cause “without government help, hundreds of suppliers might close or be forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.” What happens when all these companies are in default of their federal loans?

Newly-confirmed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner highlights “President Barack Obama’s firm commitment to transparency, accountability and oversight in our government’s approach to stabilizing the financial system,” in his announcement today of reforms to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA). Details on the reforms are sketchy at the moment, as the new President’s commitment to vague details remains firmly in place. Read the Treasury press release here, or hit the jump for the salient points. Still no comment from the DC (neé Detroit) Two on the development, or word from the Treasury on whether this effects Terminator product placement.

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The global bailout arms race (comprehensively documented by our John Horner) has finally come to the attention of the World Trade Organization. And as the orgy of national subsidies, loans, stimulus, clunker-culling and assorted industry handouts roars along unabated, old mother WTO is making feeble threats about the dire, dire consequences. “Nothing can be said for the time being about the likely trade impact of these measures, many of which are still lacking publicly announced details,” WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy tells Reuters. “It must be recognised that some of the measures at least, which in most cases constitute some form of state aid or subsidy, may eventually have negative spill-over effects on other markets or introduce distortions to competition between financial institutions.” And in one epic equivocation, Lamy ensured that the WTO would not be the stout bastion of free trade principle in the face of an “economic stimulus” epidemic. Which means John’s list is going to keep getting longer, as the race to the bottom is replaced by a race to re-capitalize national auto industries. The only way that this trend won’t end in trade wars is if there’s no moral high ground to go around. The WTO can’t do much of anything to prevent the convulsions of bailout mania, but a few grown-up words of warning and history would have been nice.

Automotive News [sub] reports that Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is angling for a special Italian-edition auto bailout, echoing a FIM-CISL union official who earlier argued that 60k Italian auto jobs are “at risk.” The playbook should sound familiar. “We expect help from the government for the entire car sector,” Marchionne said. “It’s not about helping Fiat but restarting an entire sector and the whole economy.” This coming from a firm which will likely take a 35 percent stake in Chrysler… if the US government comes through with enough bailout funds to make it worthwhile. Not that double-dipping is in any way unheard of, as bailout mania hits the global automakers. Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has already met with EU Industry Commish Gunter Verheugen in Turin, Fiat’s hometown. Verheugen had earlier warned that not all European automakers may survive the current auto sector crisis.

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TTAC commentator psarhjinian explains GM’s seemingly inexplicable decision to turn down a $3b bailout offer from the Canadian government. “A large part of that would be that, effectively, GM Canada is a dead company walking. St. Catharines Powertrain and Oshawa Truck are both scheduled to close, and with the Lacrosse going Epsilon and Camaro an only child, Oshawa Car isn’t far behind. That leaves CAMI in Ingersoll, which might not survive the new Equinox (it builds the Equinox, Torrent and XL-7—winners all, there) and Windsor Transmission (the old-school four-speeds). Good luck. GM asking for bailout bucks obliges them to maintain a manufacturing presence in Canada. Since, other than St. Catharines—which is scheduled to close—GM Canada makes nothing with a future, this isn’t going to happen. The fiasco of their getting millions of dollars just before announcing the closure of Oshawa Truck did not sit well with the Canadian public or it’s government and I suspect the Canadian bailout came with job guarantees attached that GM has no intention of honouring. They won’t tap the Canadian line until they’re absolutely desperate. On a related note…

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In case you didn’t know it, TTAC pays its contributors a token fee. They’re all motivated by an onboard desire to tell the truth about cars. So when John Horner contacted me with the idea of putting together a comprehensive list of the bailout banquet worldwide, I knew he’d leave no billion unreported. I just got the email and he’s outdone himself. (I’ve posted the resulting chart as a pdf.) Suffice it to say, I thank John for his dedication to the cause. He’s promised to update this file as the situation develops. And to those of you who’ve said “Why bother? The government does what it wants anyway,” remember that knowledge is power. Whether you agree with the bailouts or not, you can’t fight what you can’t see.

Former Toyota President and current Chrysler Co-Prez Jim Press has been out and about, playing pimp my press. In so doing, he’s revealed his employer’s strategy for scarfing another $3b in bailout bucks from its current (not to say only) financial backer (that’s you). The ailing American automaker must present its case to Congress on or around March 31. And here, via Ward’s Dealer Business, it is…

“Press says there are four points to the auto maker’s turnaround:

* Chrysler has invested in new product – the auto maker has eight new vehicles coming out in the next year and a half and 24 in the next 48 months.
* The company will continue to support its dealers “with record levels of incentives.”
* Credit is improving with the auto maker’s finance company.
* Fiat has some of the best platforms in Europe in terms of cost and performance.”

Now how much would you pay? Well don’t answer! Mr. Press is happy to share some of the philosophy underpinning his Congressional term paper.

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That’s one Hell of a ROI. And in case you hadn’t figured it out, we’re talking about lobbying costs to score bailout bucks. The Wall Street Journal reports GM’s ’08 spend on D.C. power brokering totaled $13.1m. (The $3.3.m spend covers the period of bailout begging.) That’s down from ’07’s $14.3m, but times are tough. Hence the bailout. Anyway, GM spokespinner Greg Martin assured the WSJ that no taxpayers were hurt during the buttering-up of federal legislators. “Lobbying is the transparent and effective way that GM has its voice heard on critical policy issues… that companies should not be required to forfeit if they receive federal funding,” Martin said, endearing himself to taxpayers throughout the country. Martin added that no funds lent from the Treasury would be used for lobbying. Huh? I thought GM promised the SEC yesterday not to cook the books. I mean, from what “ring fenced fund” does the lobbying money come from, pray tell? Ready to listen a bit more of that song “Fool on the Hill?’ Then let’s talk about the recently nationalized GMAC…

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American taxpayers have loaned Chrysler $4b. The Auburn Hills automaker has their hand out for an additional $3b. And what do the taxpayers get? A full newspaper page ad thanking them and a bunch of IOUs. Meanwhile Fiat is looking to pick up a third of Chrysler from Cerberus for little more than blue sky and a business plan. Political and economic ideologies aside, it doesn’t seem fair. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) agrees. During the confirmation hearings for the incoming administration’s Treasury Secretary, Sen. Bingaman asked Timothy Geithner what’s up with that. “It’s hard to explain why the American taxpayer shouldn’t own Chrysler,” the Senator asserted. True dat. When Daimler bought Chrysler, they didn’t ask U.S. taxpayers to finance the deal. When the Germans off-loaded ChryCo on Cerberus, no taxpayer subsidy was involved. If Fiat isn’t anteing up any cash– which it isn’t– somebody’s got to pay for adapting the Fiat platforms for the American market and retooling the plants. (At least in theory.) Cerberus, Chrysler and Fiat are hoping that the Italian job is compelling enough to obscure what’s really happening here: U.S. taxpayers are being fleeced. Again. Still.

The man who knows how to get something for nothing (Fiat’s Sergio Marchionne) has “absolutely no intention” of running Chrysler as part of the two firms’ automotive axis, reports Automotive News [sub]. Marchionne will fill one of Fiat’s three seats on Chrysler’s seven-seat board, as he attempts what he describes as the “mission impossible” of turning Chrysler around. But before the dramatic-but-overplayed theme music cues a Fiat-led revamping of the ailing automaker, Chrysler’s stakeholders will have to make meaningful concessions, including debt-for-equity swaps. But will Marchionne accompany ChryCo CEO Bob Nardelli for future rounds of bailout beggary? Of course not. After all, the Fiat deal confirms the suspicions of at least one US Senator, that injecting cash into Chrysler would simply invite a takeover. And sure enough, Automotive News [sub] reports that officials concede that giving U.S. taxpayer money to an automaker tied to an overseas-based company will raise red flags in DC. Chrysler spokesfolks insist that the Fiat deal is consistent with the “stipulations and obligations” of the U.S. Treasury Department loan, but then they wouldn’t be insisting if there weren’t some question, would they? As Farago reported earlier, the promise of more federal money is what got Fiat sniffing around in the first place. And now there’s trouble afoot.

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During the first round of Motown bailout begging, professional wordsmiths made the connection between Detroit’s $17.4b “bridge loan” request and Alaska’s “bridge to nowhere.” Thus “bridge loan to nowhere.” In fact, the Granvina Island Bridge project would have opened-up the Alaskan archipelago to real estate and tourist development. Boondoggle yes, but one with a long historical precedent and a reasonable expectation of some sort of commercial (i.e. taxpayer) return. In contrast, Chrysler’s supposed tie-up with Fiat is a genuine scam. The idea that Chrysler can become a viable automaker by re-engineering Fiat automobiles for the hugely competitive U.S. market is patently ridiculous. But not for Congress, the entity that offers the ailing American automaker its only hope for survival (cash). At least that’s the plan. And the man with the plan is ChryCo 300 designer Ralph Gilles. Speaking at The Automotive News World Congress [sub], Ralph told the world that he loves him some Italian. Well he would, wouldn’t he? But the details have to be seen to be believed. Or not, as the case may be.

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To qualify for additional bailout billions on March 17, Congress dictated that GM must clear two main hurdles: reduce its public debt by two-thirds (via debt-for-equity swaps), convince the United Auto Workers (UAW) to accept half of contributions to a retiree healthcare trust in the form of GM stock, and lower union workers’ wages to parity with foreign automakers. OK, three. Three main hurdles. Oh, and eliminate the union jobs bank. So, four. Four hurdles. Within two hours of the Bush’s bailout bonanza, the UAW considered the conditions and said uh, no. And now GM’s third largest bondholders have left the investor committee considering the mandatory d-for-e swap, claiming “We’re just not good committee members.” Not so funny now, eh Mr. Bond holder? More specifically, Bill Gross of Pacific Investment Management Co. (a.k.a. Pimco) has just administered the official kiss of death to GM’s shot at meeting Congressional loan conditions. Either the pols will change the rules (the “we’re sorry we were so mean” scenario), or this is it: the remaining money will be used for GM’s post Chapter 11 debtor-in-possession financing.

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Chicken and egg this. If Chrysler doesn’t score an additional $3b worth of bailout bucks, Fiat can/will walk away from their agreement to “buy” 35 percent of the ailing American automaker. The Wall Street Journal quotes “people familiar with the pact” to substantiate the proviso. Equally anonymous sources told the Journal (we hope) that if the loans go through, Fiat will take three seats on Chrysler’s Board of Directors. And then, “If Fiat meets goals for improving Chrysler’s operations within 12 months of the agreement, Fiat would have the option of buying an additional 20% of Chrysler for about $25 million, said people familiar with the matter. Details of the goals weren’t clear.” Twenty-five million? They’re joking right? Or is that the amount Cerberus would pay Fiat for 20 percent of Chrysler?

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Fritz Henderson is not a happy camper. Speaking at the Automotive News World Serious, GM’s Chief Operating Officer came off all emo, revealing a string of bad news without the usual spin. Of course, the event’s host chose to focus on the more, uh, upbeat side of Fritz’ speech. Henderson washed his hands of HUMMER, Saab and Saturn, albeit without announcing a “final solution.” And although “Pontiac is toast” isn’t the brand’s official tag line, it might as well be. “Henderson said the four core brands [Chevy, Cadillac, GMC and Buick] comprised 83 percent of GM’s total sales volume in the United States last year. Going forward, the Pontiac brand will ‘shrink substantially,’ Henderson said. But the fact that GM is investing heavily in the Buick brand in China will benefit that brand in the United States. ‘When you see the new LaCrosse, it will be very familiar to the one you’ve seen GM reveal in China,’ Henderson said.” And now, the real deal, brought to you by the MSM…

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