Complaint called ‘assault on airlines’

Continued from FP1

However, a settlement seems unlikely, particularly after Ambassador David MacNaughton told reporters that Boeing walked away from discussions between Canadian officials aimed at resolving the trade dispute. Speaking in St. John’s, MacNaughton said the government offered proposals for resolving the dispute before Boeing broke off talks.

In addition to May’s conversations with Trump, U.K. Business Secretary Greg Clark travelled to Chicago to meet Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg to stress that the dispute would harm U.S. suppliers that benefit from the CSeries program.

The Chicago-based aerospace giant filed a petition with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce in April, alleging that massive government subsidies have allowed Bombardier to embark on “an aggressive campaign to dump its CSeries aircraft in the United States.”

Bombardier has rejected Boeing’s claims, and on Tuesday called it “an unfounded assault on airlines, the travelling public and further innovation in aerospace.”

A Boeing spokesperson said in an emailed statement its petition “seeks to restore a level playing field in the U.S. single-aisle airplane market.”

“Boeing had to take action as subsidized competition has hurt us now and will continue to hurt us for years