Boeing and Airbus fret over trade war
zhuhai — The world’s two largest planemakers signalled on Tuesday that they were keen to see an end to a bruising trade war between Washington and Beijing, as China opened its largest airshow with a display that showcased its aviation ambitions.
Boeing and Airbus made their comments on the opening day of the biennial Airshow China, being held in the coastal city of Zhuhai till November 11, that is traditionally an event for Beijing to parade its growing aviation prowess.
China has become a key hunting ground for deals for foreign aviation firms thanks to surging travel demand, but the outlook has been complicated by Beijing’s desire to grow its own champions in industries ranging from aviation to semiconductors to robots.
Its ties with the United States have in particular been strained. President Donald Trump criticises China for what he sees as intellectual property theft, entry barriers to US business and a gaping trade deficit, while Beijing calls the complaints unreasonable. The two sides have resorted to tit-for-tat tariffs on goods worth billions of dollars.
While US-made aircraft, among America’s biggest exports to China, have so far escaped Beijing’s tariffs, analysts said they were still waiting to see what the trade war would spell for US companies such as Boeing.
George Xu, the top China executive at Boeing’s biggest rival Airbus, said at a news conference that the European planemaker did not expect a sales windfall from the tensions. “I am Chinese and we don’t like this kind of trade war,” he said. “Nobody will be the winner in this kind of trade war.”
Nobody will be the winner in this kind of trade war
George Xu, executive, Airbus