Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has threatened to stop making any military procurements from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) if the US doesn't back down on its proposed 300% tariff on Bombardier Aerospace C Series aircraft. Trudeau made the comments to US President Donald Trump this week, during talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"I highlighted to the president how we disagree vehemently with Commerce's decision to bring in countervailing and anti-dumping duties against Bombardier, that we feel this is not something that is warranted and quite frankly something that we look very negatively upon," Trudeau said. "The attempts by Boeing to put tens of thousands of aerospace workers out of work across Canada is not something we look on positively."
Seemingly backing up Trudeau's words, Public Services and Procurement Canada released a statement on October 9 saying that they are in talks with the Australian Government over the potential purchase of McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 fighter aircraft and parts, while "separate discussions with Boeing related to the interim purchase of Super Hornet aircraft remain suspended."
Meanwhile, politicians in the UK are calling on Prime Minister Theresa May to negotiate strongly against the tariffs, which could threaten more than 4,000 jobs in Northern Ireland. Opposition trade spokesperson, Barry Gardiner, told Bloomberg that no aircraft comes to market without some government support, including Boeing.
"Boeing has absolutely been sucking at the milk of corporate welfare in America for far too long," Gardiner said. "They need to understand that the way in which they are playing this does not sit well with U.K. parliamentarians."
