London
UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s criticism of a US airline manufacturer for complaining to the US government about unfair trade practices shows just how tenuous her political position is.
It indicates the importance the small Northern Irish political party on which her government has relied since she lost her parliamentary majority in June. The sanction imposed by the US government on Bombardier following Boeing complaint to the US Department of Commerce could cost 4,200 in Northern Ireland.
However, Britain would nevertheless find it difficult to unpick its relationship with one of its most important defence equipment suppliers. May also needs US President Donald Trump’s support as Britain prepares to sever ties with the European Union. She has pitched a new trade deal with the United States to cushion the impact of leaving the EU’s tariff-free single market.
But May could find it difficult to convince Trump, who has made ‘America First’ a theme of his administration, to get one of the titans of US industry to back off from defending what it views as its trade rights.
May, who had raised the issue with Trump, said she would try to work with Canada’s government to stress the importance of Bombardier to Northern Ireland.
Contracts
On Wednesday, Boeing said it had listened to Britain’s concerns but gave no indication that it might change tack in the dispute.
Boeing said that since 2011 it had tripled its spending in the United Kingdom to 2.1 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) in 2016, while the firm and its suppliers accounted for more than 18,700 UK jobs.
British defence minister Michael Fallon has also criticised Boeing. He ruled out cancelling existing orders with Boeing for nine P-8 spy planes and 50 Apache helicopters, but added the US firm was seeking other UK contracts.
Boeing has risen since 2000 from a relatively minor defence supplier in Britain to become one of the country’s top five following the purchase of C-17 transporters and Apache attack helicopters, according to defence analyst Francis Tusa.
Possibilities for reprisals are relatively limited in the short term but further ahead, potentially valuable requirements include the replacement of the Boeing-built Chinook helicopter.
Britain could also consider moving lucrative maintenance and support work for the C-17 transport plane from the United States to Britain, he added.
“What is going to be fascinating is that the Bombardier case will open the eyes of senior service chiefs to the fact that Britain is less important to the United States,” Tusa said.
May’s comments came in a question-and-answer session after she had delivered a robust defence of capitalism and free markets in a speech designed to halt the rising popularity of a more radical interventionist economic model espoused by her political opponents, the Labour Party.
