INDIANAPOLIS – IDP Chairman John Zody, UAW Region 2-B Director Rich Rankin and Indiana State AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Shawn Christ called out Rep. Braun’s blatant lies and hypocrisy at a press conference in the wake of the Associated Press’s Friday report about Rep. Braun’s company’s use of Chinese labor.

At today’s press conference, Chairman Zody, Director Rankin and Secretary Treasurer Christ highlighted Rep. Braun’s frequent lies about his business being based wholly in America while omitting or covering up his own auto parts brand whose parts are made in China.

Friday, the Associated Press reported that Promaxx Automotive, a brand of Rep. Braun’s Meyer Distributing that sells after-market auto parts, manufactures the bulk of its auto parts in China, including running boards, bumpers, brush guards, truck racks, and winches. Yet Braun has repeatedly lied on the campaign trail about his company, rarely if ever mentioning Promaxx while claiming at one point that his “business is never involved in anything overseas” other than some third-party manufacturers.

The AP’s report is the first time Rep. Braun’s company has been shown to directly make and sell its own line of parts, and they appear to largely come from China at the expense of American workers. Running to represent one of the largest auto manufacturing states in the country, Rep. Braun could have chosen to have his parts made in Indiana. He opted instead to rely on Chinese labor.

“For months, Rep. Braun has lied to Hoosiers about his substantial profits from producing and selling Chinese-made auto parts,” said IDP Chairman John Zody. “If Rep. Braun really cared about being ‘made in America’ like he claims, he would have relied on Indiana’s proud auto manufacturing industry to make his parts and not factories in China.”

“In politics and in life, people should practice what they preach. Unfortunately, Rep. Braun believes that if he shouts loudly enough about his products being ‘made in America,’ no one will notice that he profits from making and selling Chinese-made auto parts at the expense of Hoosier workers,” said UAW Region 2-B Director Rich Rankin. “As someone who represents thousands of Hoosier workers in Indiana’s robust auto manufacturing industry, I know that Rep. Braun could and should have relied on American-made manufacturers instead of selling out to China.”

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