A Sea of Unwanted Imports

Even as US automakers plead for government bailout funds, millions of dollars worth of foreign cars pile up at US docks. US Dealers decline the new vehicles because of a global credit crunch and consumer wariness about job loss. Japanese and German car companies resort to leasing space in US ports, and “They are turning dozens of acres of the nation’s second-largest container port into a parking lot, creating a vivid picture of a paralyzed auto business and an economy in peril,” writes Matt Richtel for the New York Times. A weak economy has clogged trade in all directions, with US ports reporting a backlog of recycled paper and cardboard, no longer required by Chinese factories for making boxes to ship exports. – YaleGlobal