Canada, U.K. team against Boeing at trade tribunal
WASHINGTON — In a test case for the aggressive use of trade penalties in Donald Trump’s America, the Canadian and British governments urged a U.S. tribunal Monday not to impose duties on Bombardier planes.
Canada’s ambassador to Washington argued that potential duties of up to 300 per cent on Bombardier’s C-Series jet were illegitimate and he urged the U.S. International Trade Commission to reject them.
On the same day the ambassador was fighting one commercial dispute, the Trump administration released a new national-security strategy mentioning trade almost five-dozen times, heralding an elbows-up attitude to trade in general.
And, in New York state, the governor instituted a new law with Buy American provisions.
MacNaughton listed several problems with the penalty on Bombardier. First, he said it’s rooted in speculation that American powerhouse Boeing will be hurt by Bombardier C-Series imports, the sort of conjecture forbidden not only under U.S. law, but also by World Trade Organization rules.
Moreover, he told the commission there’s no evidence Bombardier planes will be exported to the U.S.; that the C-Series does not compete with similar-sized Boeing aircraft; that Boeing has a seven-year backlog in sales, invalidating its claim of an injury; and that duties would ultimately hurt Americans because Bombardier accounts for 23,000 jobs in nine U.S. states.
The British ambassador to the U.S. made a similar case, and added another shot at Boeing. Kim Darroch argued that Boeing has benefited from billions in government support via different U.S. mechanisms, while it complains about subsidies elsewhere.
MacNaughton acknowledged the broader implications of this fight.
Speaking to reporters outside the hearing, he said anti-trade rhetoric in the U.S., not just from the Trump administration, has emboldened companies to launch commercial attacks on their foreign rivals.
The Trump administration itself has boasted about how trade complaints like Boeing’s have surged since it took office. On Monday, it released a new national-security strategy and listed trade as a top threat.
“Economic security is national security,” it said the document. “Unfair trade practices [have] weakened our economy and exported our jobs.”
In New York state, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law with Buy American rules for steel and iron on bridges, more limited than earlier domestic-procurement rules Canadian premiers had lobbied against.
Boeing argued that it’s Canada that is practising unfair trade.
The company said public subsidies in Canada have allowed its rival to stay alive, and creep into potential markets. It said C-Series sales are already hurting its orders and claimed the recent Bombardier-Airbus partnership to build in Alabama is a ruse that would disappear if duties are rescinded.