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Trudeau says he discussed Bombardier row with Trump

Over 4,000 jobs in Belfast under threat due to US decision to impose 300% import tariffs

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau in Washington, where he raised a trade dispute involving Bombardier aircraft. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Thu Oct 12 2017 - 07:36

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has said he talked to US president Donald Trump about the Bombardier dispute which threatens more than 4,000 jobs in Belfast.

He said he told Mr Trump that the US decision to impose 300 per cent tariffs on imports of Bombardier CSeries jets was a "block" to Canada making any military purchases from Boeing.

Canada has already threatened to cancel its planned purchase of 18 Boeing Super Hornet jet fighters.

Not easy

Mr Trudeau said it was not an easy conversation to have with Mr Trump.

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More than 1,000 people in Bombardier’s Belfast plant are directly employed manufacturing wings for CSeries planes.

The proposed new tariffs are the result of two investigations by the US department of commerce into claims by rival Boeing that Bombardier was selling its aircraft below the cost of production in the US thanks to international government subsidies.

Bombardier has refuted these claims and stressed that the CSeries programme is "critical to the long-term future" of its Northern Ireland operations.

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