Airbus CEO blames U.S. for trade wars rather than China in old Boeing flare-up

Speaking to German publication Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Guillaume Faury agreed that the rise in protectionism had forced the company to engage in more “nearshoring” as a security measure for its supply chain. It currently manufactures 60% of its aircraft in Europe, and 20% each in the U.S. and China.

But he diverged from the typical Western sentiment of blaming China for rising hostilities. Instead, Faury appeared to point the blame at Europe’s greatest ally, the U.S.

“Trade wars are in full swing. And I want to remind you that in recent years, it was not the Chinese who imposed tariffs on European aircraft, but the Americans,” Faury said.

“When Xi Jinping came to Paris in early May, he called Airbus a success for China.”

Airbus’s U.S. headache

Faury’s comments go against the grain for European CEOs, but they are perhaps unsurprising given his company’s occasionally turbulent transatlantic relations.

Airbus and rival Boeing have been at the center of a decades-long trade dispute between Europe and the U.S., which accused the EU of providing Airbus with illegal state subsidies through cheap loans, an argument the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed with. 

As a result, the Donald Trump administration hit Europe with a 10% tariff on aircraft in 2019. The dispute ended after the EU threatened to impose 15% tariffs on U.S. aircraft for similar subsidies to Boeing. 

There are some parallels with the EU’s current probe into Chinese automakers including BYD and Geely. The bloc is expected to slap import tariffs on Chinese EVs in the coming months, adding to the protectionism hitting global trade. 

Faury’s interview will do little to ease the tension, particularly given the series of recent calamities at its main rival Boeing, which have helped Airbus to grab global market share. 

The American firm’s 737 Max plane was grounded for nearly two years after two fatal crashes in the space of five months in 2019 and 2020. 

As it appeared to be overcoming that setback, Boeing was then hit by a blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight in January, forcing the grounding of nearly 200 737 Max 9 jets and plunging Boeing back into a crisis of confidence.

A representative for Airbus didn’t immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Global conflict

Not just preoccupied with trade wars, the Airbus boss is also concerned with how Europe is preparing for the bullets-and-rockets variety, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict barrels on and tensions rise in the Middle East.

Here Faury highlighted Europe’s overreliance on American weapons.

The EU and the U.S. have often been at loggerheads over European NATO members generally falling short of spending the requisite 2% of GDP on their militaries. On this point, Faury seems to agree with the States.

Faury pointed out that the U.S. spent five times the amount that the EU did on armaments, and that up to three-quarters of what Europe did spend was on weapons produced in America.

The EU needed to address the inevitable fractures that come from several separate governments trying to cooperate on arms procurement, Faury said.

“Each European country has its own armed forces and national interests, while the U.S.A. only has one air force, one navy, and one army. European needs are not synchronized.”

Faury also called for a security and defense agreement between the EU and the U.K.