Boeing, with the support of President Donald Trump, claims that Bombardier is using government subsidies to dump its C-series planes onto the aviation market. The U.S. firm argues Bombardier is only able to do so because of the support it receives from Canadian and British governments.
Bombardier, which denies the allegations, faces the prospect of significant financial penalties if the U.S. trade authorities deem a punishment necessary. Further to this, while Bombardier is based in Canada, the firm also employs around 4,500 people in Northern Ireland and workers at the Belfast-based plant could be under threat from the ruling.
The area surrounding Bombardier’s plant in Belfast is of critical political importance to Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) – who May relies upon for her marginal governing majority in Westminster.
