Chrysler wants to increase sales in China, just like every American company with large global operations. So why is Detroit native Mitt Romney, whose father headed American Motors, in such a fuss?

Last week, a poorly edited Bloomberg story suggested that Chrysler would move all of its current Jeep production from the U.S. to China. Five paragraphs later, the story confirmed that Jeep production in China would apply only to Jeeps sold in China. That's rational. Instead, Romney’s campaign pounced on the very first sentence and whipped up a TV ad to rail against the Obama-led auto-industry bailout.

“Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy,” the announcer said, “and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China.” Here, have another listen.

While pundits everywhere have called Romney’s ad a blatant lie, it’s really not. What Romney said days later at a campaign stop in Ohio, that Jeep “is thinking of moving all production to China," was indeed a lie. Romney’s campaign apparently didn't read the entire article.

We’ve known for months that Jeep wanted to expand production in foreign markets. In March, Chrysler parent Fiat signed a letter of intent to build a factory in St. Petersburg that could crank out 120,000 Jeeps per year. The next generation of smaller Jeeps, such as the Liberty, Patriot and Compass, will be based on Fiat platforms to save costs and introduce more competitive designs. So it’s only natural that Chrysler – which hasn’t built a Jeep in China since Daimler sold Chrysler in 2007 -- would want to re-enter the world’s largest car market.

Despite all of the Big Three closing U.S. factories or cutting U.S. workers within the past four years, there is zero evidence that China is to blame or that assembly is instead shifting to China. It's simple: Cars are more profitable when they’re built and sold in the same country. It eliminates shipping costs, tariffs, customs duties and fluctuating currencies. It builds international cooperation and supports local workers. But ultimately, most of the profit the Big Three make in China – and there’s a lot of it – comes all the way back to U.S. headquarters.

Everyone knows that China is the auto industry’s money tree. For the past decade, Chinese car buyers, spurred by government incentives and subsidies, have eaten up cars and trucks like $5 red velvet cupcakes. When the U.S. recession hit in 2008 and Chrysler and General  Motors went bankrupt in 2009, China was the one positive note in otherwise devastating quarterly reports. Even with European car sales in the toilet amid a regional debt crisis, China is still churning out year-over-year gains for nearly all automakers.

But business is finite. Faced with canceled incentives and overcapacity, the Chinese auto market is now growing slower than the U.S. market for the first time in 14 years. Luxury car companies are cutting prices left and right. Japanese automakers, facing a Chinese boycott of their products after a political land dispute between the two countries, are seeing double-digit declines. The Chinese government forces all foreign automakers to sign joint ventures and share profits with local companies, or else face seriously high import tariffs. Copyright infringement still runs rampant and is nearly impossible to fight. So while China isn’t a shining model for free trade, it's certainly as bright as gold.

General Motors, the best-selling foreign brand in China for seven consecutive years, has been building and selling cars there since the late 1990s. Last year, it sold a record 2.55 million cars. In September alone, GM sold four times as many Buicks in China than in the U.S. Ford sold nearly 520,000 cars in China last year and is on track to add four more plants. Chrysler, which has no factories in China, is last among the Big Three. It didn’t come close to breaking 100,000 units last year. Chrysler's new expansion in China is absolutely paramount for its success back home.

Whatever your opinion on the bailout – despite the success, I still loathe it – the fact is that Chrysler is employing thousands upon thousands of American workers and just wants to expand the business by making more money overseas. Who can possibly be against that?

Clifford Atiyeh has spent his entire life driving cars he doesn't own. Based in Boston, he is the senior news editor for MSN Autos, and contributes to The Boston Globe, Car and Driver, and other publications.