INDIANAPOLIS – During February’s primary debate, Rep. Braun claimed to not know from where his auto parts distributing company’s manufacturers get their products, but according to a fact check from the Associated Press, many of them are made in foreign countries like China and Mexico.

Rep. Braun told the audience during February’s debate sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, “I deal with American manufacturers… I don’t know where they get [their products] made.” The phrase stood out even at the time, as it made little sense that someone who staked his candidacy on claims of his business acumen wouldn’t know from where his parts were supplied.

His feigned ignorance was even more shocking, however, after the AP fact checked that claim shortly afterward and revealed that they’d easily found where many of Rep. Braun’s products were made. According to their report, Rep. Braun’s Jasper-based factory had received a shipments of goods from factories in China and dozens of the companies listed on his corporation’s website make or sell products from China, Canada, Germany, and Mexico. The company’s “home page also links to some of their suppliers’ pages, with many clearly indicating that many aren’t American companies — counter to what Braun contends,” the fact check continued.

Rep. Braun’s misleading or misguided statement was even more damaging considering the state he’s running for Senate in. Indiana has a rich heritage as an automotive manufacturing state – today, it ranks third in the nation for auto parts manufacturing. Yet instead, Rep. Braun is selling foreign auto parts – and using the profits from those parts to pad his wallet and finance his Indiana primary campaign.

This release is part of Trade Madness, a three-week long series in which the IDP is highlighting Congressmen Messer’s and Rokita’s and Rep. Braun’s mad record of supporting disastrous trade deals and policies that make it easier to ship Hoosier jobs overseas.

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