Airbus chief calls for Boeing tariffs if US-EU talks fail
PARIS: The head of Airbus said on Tuesday that Europe should impose tariffs on imports of Boeing aircraft if negotiations over US President Donald Trump's trade war fail.
Trump has rolled out a "baseline" levy of 10 per cent on goods from around the world but he has suspended a higher tariff of 20 per cent on European Union products while the two sides negotiate.
If negotiations "do not result in a positive outcome, I imagine that there will be — and that's what we wish — reciprocal tariffs on aeroplanes to force a higher level of negotiation", Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury told AFP.
Faury, who was speaking at a press event by French aerospace industry association Gifas, said any response should be similar to the strategy used in a previous spat during the first Trump administration.
Trump imposed a 10 per cent tariff on the European aviation sector in 2019 after the World Trade Organization ruled that the EU had illegally subsidised Airbus, and raised it to 15 per cent in 2020.
The WTO later ruled that the United States also provided illegal aid to Boeing. The EU then imposed a 15 per cent tariff on Boeing planes.
The tariffs were subsequently lifted under President Joe Biden in 2021.
The trade war is "a lose-lose" situation for the aerospace sector but Boeing "would likely" be more affected, Faury said.
"This is why I am hopeful that ... things will be resolved," he added.
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