Boeing and Airbus have both expressed hope that the United States and China can resolve the trade tensions through new dialogue, rather than descending into an all-out trade war.
Speaking during a media briefing at Airshow China, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice-president of Northeast Asia sales, Rick Anderson says that the airframer is in talks with both governments and hopeful that the frosty relations will be resolved.
“We continue to engage with the leaders of the United States and China and continue to urge a productive conversation to resolve these trade discrepancies,” he says.
“This is a rapidly growing market, the demand for lift is unprecedented, and we believe at the end of the day that they understand that, and we are optimistic of a quick resolution.”
His comments came a day after Chinese president Xi Jinping and other senior government officials expressed a willingness to discuss trade issues between the two countries, which has seen US president Donald Trump impose tariffs on some imports from China.
Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet at the end of November, and it is hoped that a deal can be brokered to end the trade stand-off.
During the same briefing, Boeing China president John Bruns revealed that the airframer had recently qualified five new suppliers to enter its supply chain, including two aluminium producers.
Chinese aluminium is subject to a 10% import tariff in the USA.
Airbus China president George Xu also expressed hope that a resolution of the trade situation with the US may be reached.
“Nobody will be the winner in this kind of trade war. So this is why we welcome the dialogue between the US government side and the Chinese government side. Both of those communications with each other resolve the issues as soon as possible that the healthy development of the Chinese aviation industry,” he says.
He also warned that a prolonged trade war could slow the growth engine of China’s economy, the growing middle-class, which would “negatively impact on aviation growth” in one of the world’s largest aviation markets.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
