Business Notes: Trade

Surrounded by all the recent flag-waving "Buy American" sales promotions, Japanese automaker Mazda might be experiencing something of an identity crisis. At the Chicago Auto Show this week, Mazda's U.S. subsidiary introduced a redesigned midsize 626 sedan.

But it wasn't the 626's smart looks that drew attention so much as it was the new automobile's parenthood. The 626 may well become the first U.S. import brand to qualify under Environmental Protection Agency standards as an "American" product. Not only will U.S. workers at Mazda's Flat Rock, Mich., plant assemble the automobile, but 75% of its total content will be American-made.

Mazda's marketing managers say they have no plans to exploit the 626's new citizenship status. Still, being a naturalized American with Japanese parents can have its complications. After the recent ridicule of U.S. workers by Japanese politicians, Mazda's Flat Rock president, Masahiro Uchida, sent around a note of apology to his American workers. "It was embarrassing," he said last week. "It was not helpful at all."