Canadian manufacturer will not appeal airplane duties

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada

Boeing will not appeal a ruling that allows Canadian competitor Bombardier to sell passenger jets in the U.S. without hefty duties, according to reports Friday.

The Chicago-based aircraft manufacturer filed a grievance last year with the U.S. Commerce Department that resulted in an almost 300 percent duty placed on the Canadian Bombardier’s C-Series passenger jets.

Boeing said Bombardier was unfairly subsidized by governments in Canada and the U.K., allowing it to sell the jets in the U.S. at unfair prices. Bombardier has a manufacturing plant in Ireland.

Boeing said its business would suffer because of the C-Series planes even though the ones designated for U.S. clients would come from a new line to be built in the state of Alabama.

Bombardier had a large contract to supply Delta with C-Series aircraft and said it was not in competition with Boeing because Boeing did not manufacture a plane like the Canadian passenger jet.

Last January, the U.S. International Trade Commission sided with Bombardier and removed the duties.

It judged that Boeing would not suffer because of importation of the Bombardier planes.

Delta is expected to purchase 75 Bombardier C-Series aircraft in a deal worth as much as US$5.6 billion. The project, which includes half the parts coming from U.S. manufacturers, is expected to create more than US$30 billion in business and in excess of 22,700 American jobs in 19 states.

A Boeing spokesman confirmed late Thursday that the company would not appeal the trade commission ruling but did not say why.

When the decision to not impose the duties was made in January, Bombardier called it a “victory for innovation, competition and the rule of law.”