United Kingdom ‘bitterly disappointed’ with U.S. duties on Bombardier

“Bitterly disappointed by initial Bombardier ruling”, May tweeted on Wednesday.

The aerospace spat is roiling trade relations just as the USA tries to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.

The U.S. imposed duties on Bombardier Inc.’s marquee jetliner after Boeing Co. complained that the Canadian company received unfair government help.

“This is clearly aimed at eliminating Bombardier’s C Series aircraft from the US market”, said Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs.

The department ruled that Bombardier benefited from improper government subsidies, a finding that deals a blow to the Montreal-based company’s chances in its ongoing dispute with US rival Boeing.

The US Department of Commerce ruling led to a flurry of demands for action by trade unions to protect the 4,000 jobs.

“We are outraged that Boeing’s attack will lead to possible punitive measures for Bombardier, even though it is a pernicious move by the USA carrier with no other goal than to weaken a smaller competitor, ” said Yves-Thomas Dorval, the council’s president and CEO.

No duties will be paid until an investigation by US officials is final.

The Department of Commerce’s enforcement and compliance unit is responsible for vigorously enforcing USA trade laws and does so through an impartial, transparent process that abides by worldwide rules and is based exclusively on factual evidence, its statement said.

“Boeing is seeking to use a skewed process to stifle competition and prevent USA airlines and their passengers from benefiting from the CSeries”. “Boeing has no American-made product to offer because it cancelled production of its only aircraft in this size range – the 717 – more than 10 years ago”.

She added that Boeing’s petition is “threatening these USA jobs”.

United States firm Boeing has lucrative contracts with the United Kingdom government, most recently signing a £306 million ($411 million) deal in June to build 38 Apache helicopters. Boeing employs 16,500 people in its United Kingdom supply chain and last week broke ground on a new facility in Sheffield.

“The CSeries is a hugely innovative aircraft that is vital to Bombardier’s operations in Belfast”.

Reports began to circulate on Tuesday that French firm Alstom and the Europe’s largest manufacturing company Siemens were finalising plans to merge, creating what Siemens president Jo Kaeser called “a new European champion in the rail industry”.

It accused Boeing of using a “skewed process to stifle competition”.

In a move that has been denounced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well as the UK’s Theresa May, the Boeing Corporation completely disregards the global impact of its actions.

“It’s not out of any anti-Canadian or any anti-U.K. or certainly any anti-Northern Ireland sentiment”, Ross said. She spoke about the economic significance of the Bombardier project to Northern Ireland and how there is a scope for an appeal and this ruling is not the end of the matter.

“Boeing is a major defense partner and one of the big winners of the latest defense review so this is not the kind of behavior we expect from a long-term partner”, he said.

“May must support Trudeau’s administration in standing up to protectionist bullying from Donald Trump and his crude “America First” philosophy”.

Union leaders slammed the Prime Minister for failing to do more to lobby for British workers.