Sunday, February 5, 2017

The Dreamliner Nightmare That Could Result for Boeing Because of Trump's Protectionist Trade Policies


Benjamin Zhang writes:

For a company like Boeing, President Donald Trump’s "America First" policies, which represent a sharp departure for the US, threaten the way the corporation does business.
Take its 787 Dreamliner.
It’s a flying symbol of an interconnected world economy, one with a network of global suppliers that would be hard to unravel with government policies, and a global group of customers waiting to buy the plans.
The Dreamliner is like the United Nations of planes:
  • Its wings and batteries come from Japan.
  • Its wing tips come from South Korea.
  • India is the source of its floor beams.
  • The front fuselage is made in the USA and Japan.
  • The center fuselage and horizontal stabilizers are from Italy.
  • Landing gear and doors? France.
  • Cargo access doors are built in Sweden.
  • The wing/body fairings, which cover gaps on the body, are from Canada.
  • The movable trailing edge of the wings are from Canada, except when they’re from the US or Australia.
  • Thrust reversers come from Mexico.
  • Its engines come from either General Electric in the US or Rolls-Royce in the UK.
After all that, the components travel around the world before arriving at one of Boeing's factories in Washington or South Carolina, where they’re assembled into finished planes. Then, they’re delivered to more than 60 airlines worldwide.
The Trump administration’s foreign policy and stances on trade and defense could have significant effects on how multinational companies do business. While a company such as Boeing supports a massive manufacturing presence in the US, it has cultivated a broad network of international partners that have invested decades and billions of dollars into relationships with Boeing. These partners have deep ties to their local governments and business communities, but the new administration’s hardline stance on globalization threatens those bonds. And for Boeing, it could give its main rival, Airbus, a serious leg up.

2 comments:

  1. This is a very clear example of an out of context article, one of many (if not most) that I have perused on this website. A website whose stated principles I admire.

    Let me elaborate on my argument.

    First: The U.S. has made many multi national "trade deals" in an altruistic manner in order to boost the living standards of many nations abroad while the U.S. takes a hit.

    While always immoral to a Libertarian Rational Egoists, one can see why those altruists went this route when the U.S. was riding high after WWII and much of the world lay in squalor...even those not directly involved in the Great War.

    Those days are gone: America is now the home of a zombie riding on a 20 trillion dollar heroin high. The parasites are stronger than the host, and the host is broke and her progeny rotting in indoctrination camps.

    The solution might be bilateral trade agreements that recognize this fact (aka America First). HOw the He[[ does this translate into Trump being against an open market with global players? Answer: it doesn't. Nor does this economic policy violate Comparative Advantage nor invoke Mercantilism...at least not yet. If done correctly, it makes America a Rational Egoist on the world stage again instead of an altruistic slut taking it in every orifice from every nation smirking with glee.

    QED, another example of EPJ missing the forest through the trees and leaving all the relevant information out of its reporting. FAIL

    This is important failure too, because WE NEED EPJ TO BE ACCURATE AND GIVE US THE TRUE INFORMATION. If I as a layman can see how out of context this article out of many clearly is; why can't the brilliant minds of EPJ? Unless they are clouded by bias...which they assure us they are not.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trade is not "altruistic." It's mutually beneficial.

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