Bombardier & Boeing set out defense in trade row

Boeing and Bombardier exchanged verbal passes up the US plane maker that the Canadian company receives enormous sponsorships.

The two sides showed up before the US International Trade Commission (ITC) in the most recent round of their severe line.

Boeing accused Bombardier of hurting offers of its 737 aircraft and encouraged the ITC to help tariffs on its adversary.

In any case, Bombardier, which makes wings in Belfast, said Boeing makes “money hand over fist” from the 737.

Boeing claims Bombardier’s new C-Series aircraft is being sold in the US underneath cost because of Canadian endowments.

The US company won the first round of the battle in October when the US Commerce Department requested that tariffs of up to 300% ought to be forced on the C-Series.

The ITC will decide if the tariffs ought to be made perpetual, which could effectively shut off the US market to the C-Series.

In introductory statements to the ITC hearing, Bombardier representative Peter Lichtenbaum said, “Boeing is making money hand over fist. And with a backlog of 737 orders years into the future, there are no signs of difficulty on the horizon.”

Boeing countered that it had already been “established beyond question that Bombardier has taken billions of dollars in illegal government subsidies to prop up its C-Series programme. The C-Series would not even exist at this point but for those subsidies”.

Canada’s ambassador to the US, David MacNaughton, cautioned that a decision for Boeing would not be the end of the dispute.

He told the ITC board that backing Boeing gambled a conceivable infringement of World Trade Organization rules.

“Boeing’s assertion that future imports from Canada threaten to cause material injury is necessarily based on just the type of speculation and conjecture that is prohibited under both US and international law,” he said.

Canada earlier this month scrapped plans to purchase 18 Boeing Super Hornet fighter jets, underlining Ottawa’s outrage regarding the trade challenge.

The dispute is additionally being closely watched by the UK government, which fears any impact on C-Series sales will debilitate jobs.

The dispute stems from a 2016 sale of 75 C-Series jets to Delta Air Lines. Boeing claims Delta paid $20m per plane, well beneath an expected cost of $33m and what Bombardier charges in Canada.

Earlier this year, European plane maker Airbus took a controlling stake in the C-Series program, and will start production in Alabama. This will increase the US content of the aircraft, and generate several jobs.

 

Source: BBC

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