Tim Hefer
PARIS (Reuters) – Europe’s Airbus on Wednesday highlighted the impact of rising trade tensions after Europe followed the United States in raising tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
Asked to comment on the European Commission’s decision to impose additional tariffs of up to 38.1%, a spokesman for the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer would not comment directly on the move but said trade tensions were challenging for global business.
“We are seeing rising trade tensions around the world, and this is testing the resilience of global companies like Airbus,” the spokesman said in an emailed statement.
“We sell to customers all over the world. Trade tariffs add complexity and cost to our supply chain, Airbus and our customers,” the statement added.
Airbus was recently in talks with China over a potential large plane order, Reuters reported in April.
Speaking ahead of the EU statement, two people familiar with the matter said both sides were eyeing a potentially historic deal for 600-750 aircraft.
But analysts note that orders for high-volume aircraft from China’s state procurement agency typically involve a mix of new business and recurring announcements, and that the timing of such announcements reflects the ebb and flow of trade relations.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian previously said the EU’s actions would harm China-EU economic cooperation.
A third industry source, speaking after the EU announcement, said an imminent sale to China looked increasingly ambitious amid trade disputes and political uncertainty in Europe.
Airbus said it never comments on aircraft negotiations.
Chinese government procurement agency CASC could not be reached after business hours in Beijing.
Last week, Bloomberg News reported that Airbus was discussing an order for 100 wide-body jets from China.
China has historically roughly divided its import needs between Airbus and its US rival Boeing (NYSE:), but Chinese orders for Boeing aircraft have been meager in recent years – a period coinciding with turbulence in Sino-US relations.