The important distinction between "American" or "foreign" is not who gets to race on NASCAR tracks, it is where the corporate profits go.
And Toyota's profits go to Japan.
They just assemble their cars here to reduce their shiping costs and take advantage of American tax breaks and cheap labor.
Every dollar spent on Chinese consumer junk, OPEC oil or foreign name-tag cars weakens America.
There’s so much wrong with your post that I don’t know where to start.
1. Corporate profits: The profits go to the shareholders. The largest shareholders of Toyota are actually American institutions like banks and pension funds. So the money comes right back to the US.
2. “Assemble their cars here”. Actually, over 70% of the Camry’s parts are sourced from AMERICA. Not Japan. This includes many companies that were former GM, Ford, and Chrysler suppliers, and some that are current suppliers to same. The days of “kits” being shipped over and assembled here have been gone for **20** years. Check with BurbankKarl on this forum, I believe his employer is one such supplier.
3. You’ve never sat down and done the math, have you? Let’s say that a Toyota Camry and a Ford Fusion are both sold for $30,000. Let’s further say that for the purposes of this discussion that both cars have a 16.5% profit margin (they do not in reality, but it makes it easier to deal with as an example) so the vehicles both cost $25,000 to make, and there’s $5,000 profit on each.
If you buy the Camry, $25,000 STAYS IN THE US and EMPLOYS US WORKERS. $5000 goes overseas, but about $2500-3000 comes back as share dividends.
If you buy the “domestic car”, the Fusion, that $25,000 goes to MEXICO and EMPLOYS MEXICAN WORKERS. Only $5000 stays in the US, and it employs few workers.
So, let’s look at this. Buy a Camry, employ American workers. Buy a Fusion, employ Mexicans. Hm.....
I know which I’d rather buy, if “employing Americans uber alles” was important to me.