Bombardier-Boeing battle growing overseas
Canada and U.K. ‘are as one’ as officials step in over aerospace dispute
OTTAWA— New details are emerging about the high-level, backroom wrangling around Boeing Co.’s dispute with Bombardier, which is quickly becoming an international dogfight.
The Trudeau government revealed Tuesday that it held secret talks with Boeing in hopes of persuading the U.S. aerospace giant to drop its case against Bombardier at the U.S. Commerce Department.
The revelation came amid word the British government has been lobby- ing U.S. officials in support of Bombardier, which employs about 5,000 people at an aerospace manufacturing plant in Northern Ireland.
That includes a call on Sept. 5 to U.S. President Donald Trump from British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will probably discuss the dispute with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when she visits Canada next week.
“This is a commercial matter, but the U.K. government is working tirelessly to safeguard Bombardier’s operations and its highly skilled workers in Belfast,” a British government spokesperson said.
“Ministers across government have engaged swiftly and extensively with Boeing, Bombardier, the U.S. and Canadian governments. Our priority is to encourage Boeing to drop its case and seek a negotiated settlement with Bombardier.”
Speaking in St. John’s, N.L., Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canadian and British officials “are as one” when it comes to supporting Bombardier in its dispute.
News of the secret talks between Canada and Boeing, as well as the U.K.’s surprise involvement, highlight the broad scope and importance of the dispute, which until now has gone largely overlooked.
Fred Cromer, president of Bombardier’s commercial aircraft division, welcomed the show of support from Britain during a news conference in Montreal. “Having that kind of support is important because it speaks to sort of the heart of the issue, which is jobs, innovation and international supply chains,” he said.
Yet the moves appear to have done little to resolve the matter. Like the British, Canada had hoped to convince Boeing to drop its complaint that Bombardier is selling its CSeries jets at an unfairly low price to Delta Air Lines with help from government subsidies.
The U.S. Commerce Department is currently investigating Boeing’s complaint and could impose tariffs or fines on Bombardier if it finds against the Canadian company.
Bombardier on Tuesday said it would not factor the fraught NAFTA renegotiations into a decision on whether to shift component work on its Q400 plane from Toronto to Mexico or another lower-cost region.