Boeing is ‘king of corporate welfare’
U.K.’s Labour party accuses firm of ‘egregious hypocrisy’ in claim against Bombardier
LONDON— Boeing Co. is the “king of corporate welfare,” the U.K.’s main opposition Labour party said, accusing the U.S. aerospace giant of “egregious hypocrisy” in pursuing an illegal-subsidies claim against Bombardier Inc. that threatens thousands of jobs in Northern Ireland.
The U.S. slapped 300-per-cent duties on Bombardier’s CSeries aircraft after upholding Boeing’s contention that the Canadian company benefited from state support, allowing it to sell the model more cheaply. Labour’s trade spokesperson Barry Gardiner said Wednesday that “no aircraft these days comes to market without support from government,” including those produced by Boeing.
“Boeing has absolutely been sucking at the milk of corporate welfare in America for far too long,” Gardiner said on Bloomberg TV. The dispute has caused a headache for U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, who wants to strike a trade deal with the U.S. as Britain leaves the European Union. At the same time, she needs to protect more than 4,000 Bombardier jobs in Northern Ireland, where she depends on the support of 10 lawmakers from the Democratic Unionist Party to get legislation through Parliament.
Gardiner didn’t mince words on Boeing, suggesting that the company is a “subsidy junkie” and accusing it of bringing the Bombardier case to “crush a competitor” and get hold of “superior technology” — including wings made in Belfast — by driving down its share price “so that they can try and do a hostile takeover.”
A spokesperson for Boeing in the U.K. said the U.S. action is about conforming with trade law. He declined to comment on whether the company was angling at a hostile takeover of Bombardier.