Tariffs break plurilateral WTO agreement US+CA Signed ! When the US threatens to impose tariffs on the importing of civil aircraft they are in fact tearing up a World Trade Organization agreement which for almost 40 years has prevented chaos from overtaking the international air travel and shipping industries.
Below is an overview of the WTO The Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft, and a link to the WTO source. Evidently this type of global understanding regarding a vital element of our modern world has been a positive influence in previous decades. Perhaps the commercial airlines have not been plagued by endless and pointless tariffs and duties on aircraft imports, and perhaps the preceding decades have seen tremendous growth in global air travel and shipping, thanks to this type of collaborative effort to work out the basis for mutually beneficial understandings like this one.
Instead of opening Pandora's box and unleashing the chaos, perhaps we should re-examine these gems from the past and recall the words of our predecessors, and remember that what matters most is what is best for the world.
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The Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft (https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/air-79_e.htm) achieves the expansion and ever-greater liberalization of world trade through the progressive dismantling of obstacles to trade and the improvement of the international framework for the conduct of world trade.
The US and Canada, along with 30 other nations, signed this agreement to achieve maximum freedom of world trade in civil aircraft, parts and related equipment, including elimination of duties, and to the fullest extent possible, the reduction or elimination of trade restricting or distorting effects.
The 32 signatory nations crafted the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft to encourage the continued technological development of the aeronautical industry on a world-wide basis, and to provide fair and equal competitive opportunities for their civil aircraft activities and for their producers to participate in the expansion of the world civil aircraft market.
Being mindful of the importance of the civil aircraft sector to their overall mutual economic and trade interests, and recognizing it is a particularly important component of economic and industrial policy, the 32 signatory nations seek to eliminate adverse effects on trade in civil aircraft resulting from governmental support in civil aircraft development, production, and marketing while recognizing that such governmental support, of itself, would not be deemed a distortion of trade.
Desiring that their civil aircraft activities operate on a commercially competitive basis, and recognizing that government-industry relationships differ widely among them, the 32 signatory nations established an international framework governing conduct of trade in civil aircraft.
The 32 signatory nations agree to eliminate by 1 January 1980 all customs duties and other charges of any kind levied on the importation of civil aircraft, including the parts and equipment used in the course of its manufacture, repair, maintenance, rebuilding, modification or conversion.
Each Signatory shall adopt or adapt an end-use system of customs administration to give effect to its obligations listed above, and ensure that its end-use system provides duty-free or duty-exempt treatment that is comparable to the treatment provided by other Signatories and is not an impediment to trade.