Trade Envoy Post Interests Iacocca : Chrysler Chief Would ‘Come Home With Bacon for U.S.’
Lee A. Iacocca, chairman of Chrysler Corp., said Wednesday that the one job he would consider doing for the next American president is that of U.S. trade representative.
In remarks at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo, the outspoken Chrysler official said he would consider the trade job if offered it, because he believes that the U.S. trade deficit must be corrected.
“I often think if there were a (government) job that would be of some interest to me and (for which) the world may need a tough-nosed business attitude, it would be the trade negotiator’s job,” he said when asked about serving in the next administration.
Plans Sales in Japan
“I don’t think (other) countries would like me in that position because I am an unabashed patriot,” Iacocca added. “I would come home with the bacon for the U.S. more often than not.”
The current U.S. trade representative, Clayton K. Yeutter, has negotiated agreements for opening foreign markets, including those in Japan, to U.S. goods, but the U.S. trade deficit has remained at high levels despite recent gains resulting partly from a devalued dollar.
Winding up a trip to China and Japan, Iacocca also said his firm will launch its first serious effort to sell Chrysler and Jeep cars in Japan. Chrysler, he said, will sign a distribution agreement with the J. Osawa Co., a subsidiary of the Seibu-Saison Group, with the aim of selling 1,000 cars here.
Compared to Chrysler’s annual production of 2.2 million vehicles, “this will not be one of our great, big markets,” he said in a gibe at Japan’s receptiveness to imports.
Iacocca said he pointed out to Japanese he met in Tokyo, including Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, that he had spent six days in China “where we’re already selling 5,000 Cherokees.”
“I’ve been coming to Japan for 25 years and I’m still trying to go for 1,000.”
A longtime advocate of exchange rate realignment, Iacocca said a rate “in the 120 to 140 (yen to the dollar) range is probably right” to enable U.S. auto makers to compete with Japanese rivals.
“We can compete well at 125 yen (to the dollar),” he said, “but at 250”--the rate that prevailed in 1985--”we were dead.”
Iacocca also acknowledged that his salary is high but denied that 1987 income that he put at $20 million had injured the morale of U.S. auto workers.
A reporter noted that the Chrysler chief’s 1987 income probably exceeded the combined earnings of the top executives of all 11 Japanese auto firms. Iacocca acknowledged that pay “at $600,000 to $700,000 a year is a high salary--not as much as (singer) Michael Jackson. But it’s high.”
No Apologies for Salary
“If you have a good year, you might equal your salary in bonus,” bringing the total to about $1.2 million, he said.
But he offered no apologies.
“You give half to the government, and you’re left with $600,000, and you can make ends meet. I’ve been (at work) 43 years. I’ve done my homework. I gave up my family life--a lot of it. I reach this so-called pinnacle, and I get paid like a baseball player.”
Iacocca said that when he “was working for a dollar a year . . . people loved me. As soon as I start making a lot of money, people don’t love me any more.”
He said Chrysler, in lieu of a salary, had given him “paper”--stock that was worth $3 a share when the automobile company was facing bankruptcy.
“It was $3 (a share), and they assumed it was going to zero. And I kept that lousy paper for 10 years, and now, ‘cause I’m 64, I’m starting to cash in the paper. It went from $3 to $100, but the people who stayed with me made the same $100.
“If you don’t like that system, you can’t live in America. So I don’t apologize for that.”
