UK-Canada trade talks: Theresa May vows to do 'all I can' to save Bombardier aerospace jobs
Theresa May has vowed to do “all I can” to save threatened manufacturing jobs — after the issue thrust her into the middle of a bitter international trade dispute.
The row centres on the Canadian aerospace manufacturer Bombardier, which has been accused by its American rival Boeing of receiving unfair state support.
That includes a £113m loan from the British government for manufacturing Bombardier’s new C-series plane, which provides work for 4,500 people at its factory in Belfast.
In Ottawa, the Prime Minister will try to head off the trade dispute when she meets Justin Trudeau, her Canadian equivalent, and the head of Bombardier.
Speaking ahead of those talks, Ms May stressed she had raised the threat to the Bombardier jobs in her recent phone call with Donald Trump.
And she said: “I’m very clear about the potential impact that this could have on jobs in Northern Ireland and I will be doing all I can to ensure that we can see a resolution to this dispute, because I want to see those jobs protected.”
The Prime Minister would not be drawn on whether Britain would try to use its “commercial muscle” to steer the dispute – perhaps by not buying Boeing products.
In the Canadian capital, the two leaders will seek to lay the ground for a post-Brexit trade deal, with the UK the second biggest destination for Canadian investment abroad after the US.
They are expected to agree that the EU-Canada trade deal could form the basis of a new bilateral agreement – potentially triggering renewed criticism that Brexit involves “cutting and pasting” existing EU deals that will be lost after 2019.
