Voluntary Japanese auto export limits (1981)
Under US pressure, Japan agreed to cap car exports to the United States. The limits protected Detroit but pushed up prices, and Japanese makers responded by building plants on US soil and shifting toward higher-margin models.
US car prices rose and buyers paid more, while Detroit got breathing room.
Japanese automakers built US factories and moved upmarket, permanently changing the industry.
It shows how trade barriers push automakers to reprice and re-source rather than simply eat the cost, the same choice GM faces now.
