Editing Henry Ford (section)

==International business==
Ford's philosophy was one of [[Economic nationalism|economic independence]] for the United States. His [[Ford River Rouge Complex|River Rouge Plant]] became the world's largest industrial complex, pursuing [[vertical integration]] to such an extent that it could produce its own steel. Ford's goal was to produce an automobile from scratch without reliance on foreign trade. He believed in the global expansion of his company. He believed that international trade and cooperation led to international peace, and he used the assembly line process and production of the Model T to demonstrate it.<ref>Watts, pp. 236–240.</ref>

He opened Ford assembly plants in Britain and Canada in 1911, and soon became the biggest automobile manufacturer in those countries. In 1912, Ford cooperated with [[Giovanni Agnelli]] of [[Fiat]] to launch the first Italian automotive assembly plants. The first plants in Germany were built in the 1920s with the encouragement of [[Herbert Hoover]] and the Commerce Department, which agreed with Ford's theory that international trade was essential to world peace and reduced the chance of war.<ref>Wilkins.</ref> In the 1920s, Ford also opened plants in Australia, France, India, and Mexico, and by 1929, he had successful dealerships on six continents. Ford experimented with a commercial rubber plantation in the [[Amazon Rainforest|Amazon]] jungle called [[Fordlândia]]; it failed.

[[File:Ford Bron Mezhlauk.jpg|thumb|right|upright|After signing the contract for technical assistance in building Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) Automobile Plant. Dearborn, Mich., May 31, 1929. Left to right, [[Valery Mezhlauk|Valery I. Mezhlauk]], Vice Chairman of VSNKh; Henry Ford; [[Saul Bron|Saul G. Bron]], President of Amtorg.]]
In 1929, Ford made an agreement with the Soviets to provide technical aid over nine years in building the [[GAZ|first Soviet automobile plant (GAZ)]] near [[Nizhny Novgorod|Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky)]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Melnikova-Raich |first=Sonia |year=2011 |title=The Soviet Problem with Two 'Unknowns': How an American Architect and a Soviet Negotiator Jump-Started the Industrialization of Russia, Part II: Saul Bron |journal=[[IA, The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology]] |volume=37 |issue=1/2 |pages=5–28 |issn=0160-1040 |jstor=23757906}}</ref> (an additional contract for construction of the plant was signed with The Austin Company on August 23, 1929).<ref>{{Cite book |title=Building Utopia: Erecting Russia's First Modern City, 1930 |last=Austin |first=Richard Cartwright |publisher=Kent State University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-1612773216 |oclc=819325601}}</ref> The contract involved the purchase of $30,000,000 worth of knocked-down Ford cars and trucks for assembly during the first four years of the plant's operation, after which the plant would gradually switch to Soviet-made components. Ford sent his engineers and technicians to the Soviet Union to help install the equipment and train the workforce, while over a hundred Soviet engineers and technicians were stationed at Ford's plants in Detroit and Dearborn "for the purpose of learning the methods and practice of manufacture and assembly in the Company's plants".<ref>Agreement Between the Ford Motor Company, the Supreme Council of National Economy, and the Amtorg Trading Corporation, May 31, 1929, Amtorg Records 1929–1930, Acc. 199, box 1a, Benson Ford Research Center, The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan.</ref> Said Ford: "No matter where industry prospers, whether in India or China, or Russia, the more profit there will be for everyone, including us. All the world is bound to catch some good from it."<ref>''The New York Times,'' May 5 and 7, 1929.</ref>

By 1932, Ford was manufacturing one-third of the world's automobiles. It set up numerous subsidiaries that sold or assembled the Ford cars and trucks:
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Ford Australia|Ford of Australia]]
* [[Ford of Britain]]
* [[Ford Motor Company of Argentina|Ford of Argentina]]
* [[Ford do Brasil|Ford of Brazil]]
* [[Ford Motor Company of Canada|Ford of Canada]]
* [[Ford of Europe]]
* [[Ford India Private Limited|Ford India]]
* [[Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa|Ford South Africa]]
* [[Ford Motor Company Philippines|Ford Philippines]]
{{div col end}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-10400, Henry Ford in Deutschland.jpg|thumb|left|Henry Ford in Germany; September 1930]]
Ford's image transfixed Europeans, especially the Germans, arousing the "fear of some, the infatuation of others, and the fascination among all".<ref name="Nolan, p. 31">Nolan, p. 31.</ref> Germans who discussed "Fordism" often believed that it represented something quintessentially American. They saw the size, tempo, standardization, and philosophy of production demonstrated at the Ford Works as a national service—an "American thing" that represented the [[culture of the United States]]. Both supporters and critics insisted that Fordism epitomized American capitalist development, and that the auto industry was the key to understanding economic and social relations in the United States. As one German explained, "Automobiles have so completely changed the American's mode of life that today one can hardly imagine being without a car. It is difficult to remember what life was like before Mr. Ford began preaching his doctrine of salvation".<ref name="Nolan, p. 31"/> For many Germans, Ford embodied the essence of successful Americanism.

In ''My Life and Work'', Ford predicted that if greed, racism, and short-sightedness could be overcome, then economic and technological development throughout the world would progress to the point that international trade would no longer be based on (what today would be called) colonial or [[neocolonialism|neocolonial]] models and would truly benefit all peoples.<ref name="Ford_Crowther_1922_pp242-244">{{Harvnb|Ford|Crowther|1922}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4K82efXzn10C&pg=PA242 pp. 242–244].</ref>