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PM calls Trump to try to save United Kingdom aviation jobs

12 2017 a Boeing 777 plane on the assembly line in Everett Washington
Boeing dispute threatens major Bombardier order
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12 September, 2017

Theresa May has asked President Trump to intervene in a trade dispute that threatens thousands of jobs in Belfast amid pressure from the Democratic Unionist Party, The Times can reveal.

As the wings for the jets are built at Bombardier's Belfast plant, this could threaten jobs in Northern Ireland.

But rival firm Boeing complained to United States authorities that the deal would unfairly support from the Canadian and British governments, including a £113m loan from the UK. If, as analysts predict, the Commission rules against Bombardier, the company's Belfast factory may be forced to close, putting 4,500 jobs at risk. It could hit Bombardier with punitive tariffs.

A United Kingdom government spokesperson told the BBC that Mrs May had raised the issue in a phone call with President Trump last week.

A BEIS spokesman said: "This is a commercial matter but the United Kingdom government is working tirelessly to safeguard Bombardier's operations and its highly skilled workers in Belfast".

They said that ministers across the government have communicated with Boeing, Bombardier and the USA and Canadian governments.

United Kingdom business secretary Greg Clark went to Chicago to meet Boeing's chairman, president and chief executive officer Dennis Muilenburg.

It followed a visit from Greg Clark, the business secretary, to Chicago last month to meet Boeing's chairman and chief executive and plead with them to drop the case.

Bombardier management in Belfast are also understood to have recently briefed trade unions about the importance of the case.

Boeing accused the Canadian company of having sold 75 of the planes to Delta Air Lines previous year at a price well below cost. May pledged to give the Northern Irish party £1 billion in exchange for a "confidence and supply" deal where the DUP's 10 MPs will back the government on key legislation.

It said: "Equity infusions from government coffers not only rescued the program but have given Bombardier the resources it needs to aggressively target the US market".

A spokesman for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: "This is a commercial matter but the United Kingdom government is working tirelessly to safeguard Bombardier's operations and its highly skilled workers in Belfast".


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