A number of stories have been making the rounds over the past few days that Jeep could be moving its operations to China.  The reports gained such credence that presidential candidate Mitt Romney even fretted about it to Ohio voters.

In fact, it looks like Jeep is simply considering setting up manufacturing operations in China in order to sell its vehicles in the Chinese market. 

In a blog post, Chrysler set the record straight:

Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China. It’s simply reviewing the opportunities to return Jeep output to China for the world’s largest auto market. U.S. Jeep assembly lines will continue to stay in operation. A careful and unbiased reading of the Bloomberg take would have saved unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments.

Bottom line: It’s a good thing if Jeep sells its vehicles in China, as long as they aren't exported back to the U.S. However, it would be a much better thing if Jeep simply exported its vehicles from the U.S. to China.

This is why issues like Beijing's ongoing currency manipulation and massive subsidies of auto parts matter so much when it comes to the competitiveness of the U.S. auto industry.

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Image by flickr user ToolManTimTaylor, used following Creative Commons guidelines.