Canada blasts Boeing, warns US jobs at stake in Bombardier trade row
OTTAWA (AFP) – Canada-US trade relations took a nosedive Wednesday after the US Commerce Department announced it would impose steep antidumping duties on Canadian manufacturer Bombardier's new CSeries jetliners.
The two neighbors are among the world's closest allies and trading partners, with more than half a trillion (US) dollars worth of goods exchanged annually.
So the US imposition of a 220 percent countervailing duty on a major Canadian manufacturer, following an investigation into state subsidies sparked by a Boeing complaint, drew strong criticism.
Bombardier, unions representing Canadian aerospace workers, and both the Canadian and Quebec governments assailed the duties as ''absurd,'' ''ridiculous, '' '' madness,'' and an attempt to ''stifle competition.''
The duties – which are expected to be applied in 2018 when Delta Airlines will receive the first of 75 CSeries jetliners it ordered – would also have a negative impact on the current renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), they warned, and called for retaliatory measures.
''Obviously we're disappointed by the decision and I will continue to fight hard for good Canadian jobs,'' said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling the US tariff ''protectionist and warrantless.''
Ottawa – along with Britain, which is seeking to safeguard 4,200 Bombardier jobs in Northern Ireland – has threatened to boycott Boeing, which is hoping to sell 18 Super Hornet fighter jets to Canada and 50 Apache helicopters to Britain.
''Canada strongly disagrees with the anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations into imports of Canadian large civil aircraft,'' Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said overnight after the US announcement late Tuesday.
''This is clearly aimed at eliminating Bombardier's CSeries aircraft from the US market,'' she said.
On Wednesday, Freeland said she would call US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to protest the tariff, and discuss Canada's next move with her British counterpart.
Freeland also warned that US parts suppliers for the CSeries aircraft, which employ 23,000 Americans, and their jobs could be at risk because of Boeing's petition.