Jeb Bush calls buying from Airbus 'devastating' during GOP debate, prompting Mobile official
By John Sharp
Mobile, AL
Former Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush (file photo)
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, during Thursday's GOP presidential debate, said that "buying Airbus would be devastating to the U.S. economy."
Bush's comments came out of a testy exchange with Republican front-runner Donald Trump, when he said that Trump's call for high tariffs on China would have global ramifications.
Bush said that global airline buyers, for example, would retaliate against the U.S. by dealing with Airbus rather than U.S.-based Boeing.
On Friday, a Bush spokeswoman Allie Brandenburger said Trump's proposed 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods would also be harmful to Airbus, which opened its first North American plant in Mobile last year.
"Jeb wants China to buy more America goods made by American workers at Boeing," said Allie Brandenburger, spokeswoman with the Bush campaign. "If Trump got the 45 percent tariff he wants, it would mean fewer U.S. exports by all American-based manufacturers, meaning Airbus will think twice about expanding its American operations and rely on their European operation which hosts overwhelming majority of its employees."
Airbus Americas spokeswoman Kristi Tucker, defending Airbus' U.S. position, said that Airbus Groups invested more than $16.5 billion last year with U.S.-based suppliers in all 50 states, including more than 250 suppliers in Florida.
She said Airbus is the "world's largest export customer for U.S. aerospace goods."
At the new $600 million Mobile plant, Tucker said: "Every American-made A320-family single-aisle aircraft is the work of skilled American workers, a third of who are military veterans." The company has more than 300 workers on site, with plans to add up to 1,000.
"We would be pleased to host Governor Bush at our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to see how Airbus is contributing to the resurgence of U.S. manufacturing and American aerospace," Tucker said.
Bush's comment came out of a testy exchange with Trump during the Fox Business Network's debate.
Trump said it was important to have business people, and not politicians, negotiate with foreign countries.
Bush countered that it was more important to have a leader in charge who has a "steady hand."
Trump then said that massive plants are being built in China to accommodate Boeing so they can build planes. Boeing announced in September its plans to build its first offshore aircraft plant in China. Airbus has a final assembly line in Tianjin, China.
The perception of Airbus as being a foreign company – it is headquartered in Toulouse, France – with no American presence is rooted in the politicized battles over a lucrative Air Force refueling tanker contract that went to Boeing in 2011, according to Troy Wayman, vice-president of economic development at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce.
"That's a story that is propaganda propagated during the tanker battle," said Wayman. "If you look at the component sourcing for both companies, they are both international. Airbus has sourced as much out of the U.S. as Boeing"
He added, "Is (Airbus) French and German owned? Absolutely. Does Boeing source component parts out of Europe? Absolutely. Does Airbus source component parts out of the U.S.? Yes. It's an argument over semantics. You can drive by and look at (the Mobile plant) any day you want."
Wayman said the loss of the tanker contract in 2011 – viewed as an economic blow at the time to Mobile – helped lead to Airbus' announcement to open its first North American plant in Mobile a year later. Through state and local economic incentives, the plant was built and plans to deliver its first assembled aircraft to JetBlue Airways in the second quarter of this year.
"Obviously the success of Airbus is vitally important to us," Wayman said.
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