US aerospace industry fears over Trump's steel tariffs plan allayed
Retaliatory action is the bigger threat as Boeing sells nearly 70% of its jetliners to customers outside the US and 22% to China
New York — President Donald Trump’s plan to slap tariffs on imported steel and aluminium would barely budge the price of a Boeing jetliner or fighter aircraft, belying fears of a big blow to US industry, aerospace analysts said. What could have an effect is retaliation by countries such as China, one of Boeing’s biggest customers, if the US goes through with threats to tax imported steel by 25% and aluminium by 10%, they said. Boeing makes its aircraft only in the US, but nearly 70% of the 763 jetliners delivered in 2017 went to customers outside the US and 22% to China. Aluminium makes up 80% of the weight of older-model aircraft such as the 737 and 777 but only about 12% of the cost, according to experts. A 10% aluminium tariff would increase the cost of an aircraft by about 1.2% if all of the aluminium was imported. But most of the aluminium Boeing uses was domestically produced, experts said. Eric Redifer, a director in the aerospace practice of industry consulting firm AlixPart...
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