Boeing is the kind of manufacturer – one that exports billions of goods – that President Trump says he wants to protect and cultivate.
But his invoices could have the opposite effect on company suppliers.
Mr Trump has so far imposed a few invoices, but says that more are coming in just a few weeks. This threat has surpassed the aerospace industry, whose Boeing is one of the largest companies. Aluminum and steel tasks, two of the most important raw materials used in aircraft, are expected to increase the cost of construction. However, the industry is much more concerned with the invoices that come into force on the goods from Canada and Mexico next month, which could disrupt the highly integrated supply chain of North America.
“These invoices are particularly full for an industry such as the aerospace that has been related to decades,” said Bruce Hirsh, a Capitol Counsel, a pressure company in Washington, which has aerospace customers. “Parts come from everywhere.”
Aerospace experts say industry is an example of American production. It offers good jobs and has created one of the largest trade surpluses of any industry for years. Aerospace is expected to export about $ 125 billion this year, according to Ibisworld, second only to oil and gas.
But the industry operates under a cloud of uncertainty. Many companies were able to avoid costly cross -border invoices in short -term postponement for products covered by a North American trade agreement that Mr Trump traded during his first term. But this deal ends in April.
In a letter from administration officials last week, teams representing airlines, repair stations, suppliers and manufacturers called for exclusion from the invoices, arguing that industry had to be competitive in the world market.
For Boeing, invoices will come in a difficult time. The company past year recovers from a crisis that started when a table broke from a jet aircraft Boeing 737 during a flight in January 2024. The company replaced its CEO and began revising its activities.
After months of turmoil, including a nearly two -month strike, Boeing has steadily increased the production of max, its jet aircraft and other planes. But invoices could harm the companies that supply it and other aerospace manufacturers. Aluminum is about three -quarters of the maximum content. Steel represents a much smaller but still important share.
The immediate impact of the invoices on Boeing will be limited, said Brian West, chief financial director of the company, at an investor conference on Wednesday. The company has many stocks on hand and the company’s expenses are already overwhelmingly concentrated in the United States. In addition, the increase in metal prices will increase less than 1 % in the cost of airplanes, he said.
However, invoices could influence companies further under the aerospace chain, which have been fighting for years with shortages of materials and labor.
“What we are worried about is the availability of accessories, because it is a wide complex supply chain and people have different levels of exposure to it,” Mr West said.
Overall, invoices could increase the costs for the aerospace industry by about $ 5 billion a year, said Kevin Michaels, chief executive of Aerodynamic Advisory, a consulting company. An overwhelming majority will come from the invoice for goods from Canada and Mexico. And the threat of a trade war will only coexist the consequences.
“Not only is the country’s invoices larger, but countries can oppose,” Mr Michaels said. “And, boy, he’s crazy of Canada.”
Last month, Bombardier’s Éric Martel, chairman and chief executive of Bombardier, a more important manufacturer of Montreal -based corporate aircraft, told investors that the company was suspending its financial projections for the year, because invoices – and potential anti -invoices – invoices. Parts of Boeing’s Jets 787 and 777 are built in Canada, which also hosts CAE, a leading simulator manufacturer. Pratt & Whitney makes helicopter engines and other aircraft in Quebec.
Mexico also hosts many suppliers, large and small. Collins Aerospace, Honeywell Aerospace and GE Aerospace Design or produce accessories for commercial and business aircraft there.
If invoices are imposed, analysts said, moving this production to the United States would be difficult, if not impossible.
“This will take a terrible time to happen if it ever actually does it,” said Jerrold Lundquist, an industry adviser. “There is a fundamental economy as to why the supply chain is distributed first. It is usually the cost of labor, but also the availability of materials and such things.”
The industry is operating on long -term horizons – airplanes take years to design and months to do and usually have been used for decades – so decisions to move businesses are not slightly done. There are not enough specialized aerospace workers in the United States and suppliers have been struggling for years to hire several employees.
In an exhibition to Congress in November, a coalition representing industry, workers and security experts concluded that the “aerospace chain is vulnerable to job deficiencies, obstacles to critical materials and health support”.
Even the threat of a escalation in commercial tensions hurts aerospace manufacturers, industry experts said.
“Strategic decisions in many cases have been frozen as a result of it,” Mr Michaels said.
