US President Donald Trump has ordered the commerce secretary and the US trade representative to urgently negotiate trade agreements that would address what the government sees as a threat to national security caused by the import of foreign commercial jet aircraft.

The proclamation, issued on July 9, authorises the US government to "take other actions" if agreements regulating the trade in commercial aircraft, engines, and parts are not finalised within the next 180 days, or if they are "not carried out or ineffective".

The decision comes after the secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick, submitted a report which argued that "commercial aircraft, jet engines, and their associated parts are being imported into the United States in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States."

Trump argued that "decades of foreign government market interventions have unfairly eroded our producers’ global market share," weakening the US commercial aircraft industry, diminishing its manufacturing capacity, and causing job losses.

"These challenges are caused by, among other things, actions and practices of foreign countries, overreliance on foreign imports, and insufficient incentives to invest domestically," the report submitted by the commerce secretary reads.

The proclamation does not name any rival OEMs or countries allegedly responsible for these challenges. However, the US remains in a lengthy legal battle with the European Union and France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom over their support for Airbus.

In 2019, the World Trade Organisation concurred that the European OEM received unfair state aid and authorised the US to impose tariffs on USD7.5 billion in imports in retaliation. However, a year later, the same organisation found that the US aided Boeing, and authorised the EU to impose levies on USD4 billion worth of US imports. In 2021, the two sides agreed to suspend their respective tariffs under a five-year truce. It was recently extended, as negotiations on a permanent agreement continue.