Title: Boeing, Bombardier, & Tariffs -- Protectionist Mischief Hurts Americans | National Review
Headings: The Radiating Mischief of Protectionism
The Radiating Mischief of Protectionism
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Content: But the U.S. government essentially provides Boeing with its own financial institution: The company is by far the largest beneficiary of what is known as “Boeing’s Bank” — the misbegotten Export-Import Bank. It provides cheap loans to Boeing’s overseas customers, lowering the real prices they pay. In 2014, 68 percent of the bank’s long-term loan guarantees — its primary business — was on Boeing’s behalf. Boeing also benefits from government contracts — 23 percent of its 2016 revenue; the Defense Department is its largest customer — and from state governments’ incentives worth billions (e.g., $8.7 billion from Washington state). Advertisement
Nevertheless, the Commerce Department, succoring Boeing with compassionate conservatism, imposed an astonishing 219.63 percent tariff on imports of Bombardier’s C Series, supposedly to compensate for subsidies the company receives, and another 79.82 percent as punishment for not charging Delta, a U.S. airline, more. This 299.45 percent duty — Boeing had suggested 160 percent — would quadruple the planes’ price, effectively closing the U.S. market to them, thereby threatening Bombardier’s survival. Which probably interests the approximately 7,000 Americans in 17 states who work in Bombardier facilities making aerospace and railroad products. Furthermore, Bombardier spends $3 billion annually on U.S. suppliers in 48 states.