Alliance Economy spokesperson Stephen Farry MLA has called for the US and Canadian Governments to facilitate mediation after the US Department of Commerce ruled against Bombardier in its dispute with Boeing.
An interim tariff of 219.63 per cent was imposed by the International Trade Commission after Boeing claimed Bombardier got unfair state subsidies from the UK and Canada in order to win the order for C Series wings. A final ruling will be made in February.
“This is a staggering and perverse ruling from the International Trade Commission,” said Dr Farry.
“It runs contrary to the spirit of open competition and will have wider implications for free and fair trade, especially in the aerospace sector.
“The implications of the scale of the punitive tariffs recommended would be crippling to Bombardier. The company is the cornerstone of the manufacturing sector in Northern Ireland, both as the largest employer and enabler of a wider engineering supply chain. Any negative impact of this ruling on the company would have a massive impact of many livelihoods and the wider economy.
“There remains a narrow in which this matter can be still fairly resolved. It is now incumbent on the US and Canadian Governments, with the support of the UK Government, to facilitate and broker an outcome to this dispute.”
“It is incumbent all local political parties unite to support Bombardier,” added East Belfast MLA Chris Lyttle.
“Alliance has already been in contact with senior figures in the US, Canadian and UK Governments on this matter. We will now be refreshing our calls for a sensible outcome to this dispute to be brokered which would support fair and open competition. Northern Ireland’s response would undoubtedly be assisted by the engagement from a functioning Executive.”