The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) unanimously rejected almost 300 percent duties against Bombardier’s CSeries airliners in an unexpected ruling on Friday. The duties were imposed by the Department of Commerce late last year after Boeing launched a claim alleging the CSeries were being dumped on the U.S. market at below-market prices in a deal with Delta Air Lines for 75 aircraft. Boeing said the cut-rate airliners, made possible by government bailouts of Bombardier in Canada, unfairly harmed its business. The Commerce Department agreed and proposed duties of 292 percent on CSeries, essentially barring it from the U.S.But on Friday, the commission ruled that “100-to-150-seat large civil aircraft from Canada do not injure U.S. industry.”
Boeing said the CSeries threatened its business and cited poor sales of 737-7 MAX as proof of its claim but at least the four commissioners on the USITC disagreed. Boeing did not immediately say whether it would appeal the decision and would wait for the full text to be released in February. It did say that it wouldn’t “stand idly by” while unfair competition crossed the border, however. Before the decision, Bombardier said it planned to go through with a partnership with Airbus to build CSeries at an assembly line in Mobile, Alabama, regardless of the commission decision. Airbus agreed to take over the CSeries program after the Commerce Department proposed the duties. Most observers, including Bombardier and the Canadian government, had expected Bombardier to lose its case.
