finance
Trudeau Describes US, European Pressure on Bombardier Before Airbus Partnership
Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described at a Singapore event how economic pressures from the U.S. and Europe nearly led Bombardier to partner with Chinese investors. He recounted his 2017 G7 intervention that resulted in Airbus acquiring the C Series program. Trudeau also noted similar effects from U.S. tariffs on Canada's automotive and aluminum sectors.
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U.S. and Europe almost drove Canada into China's arms during intense competition in the aerospace sector. He added that Boeing and Airbus, by trying to put Bombardier out of business, nearly pushed Canada toward China.
He told them they were driving Canada into Chinese pockets to protect jobs and that China was willing to pay anything. The G7 Summit is an annual meeting of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations.
Bombardier launched the C Series aircraft program in 2008. Chinese investors offered a partnership with Bombardier when talks about a potential Airbus merger fell apart. Bombardier turned to China for a deal after negotiations with Boeing over the C Series were unsuccessful.
Trudeau's intervention resolved the issue and led Airbus to take a majority stake in Bombardier's commercial C Series program in 2018, with manufacturing beginning under the A220 name. In 2020, Airbus bought the remaining stake in the A220 program, securing jobs in Quebec, according to the companies.
Tariff threats had a similar effect, causing Canada's automotive industry to look at working with China because the American industry does not want to work with Canada anymore. The U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on imports of the metal.
U.S. tariffs led Canada to find better partners in Europe for aluminum supply as a way to get around economic coercion. Great powers like the U.S., China, Russia, and India have decided they can opt in or out of pieces of the rules-based order.
