It is a rare politician that does not support some sort of trade deal because although all western politicians say they like the market system, companies will lobby some countries unfairly help their home industries which makes selling their products very hard. In the world of aviation there are two giants and then other companies are on the horizon Boeing and Airbus. Since the US has opened up, the passengers boarded one of the two companies planes.

If you think back to the the past administration, former President Trump said America first and wanted a tariff on anything to have the supply chain be based in the US. That never happened, but along the way the other countries the tariffs were aimed at, imposed tariffs on American goods exported and generally they had little to do with the bigger industries. In an article by Lorne Cook and Aamer Madhani of Reuters, the US had imposed what could have amount to $7.5 billion on European exports because they said France and other countries subsidized Airbus (they do); the EU imposed tariffs on the US of $4 billion because the EU said the the US subsidized Boeing (they do but it more indirect).

President Biden was recently in Europe and the US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the 2 sides have come to terms to phase out the tariffs on each side regarding aviation. The tariffs on aluminum and steel are still in effect and hopefully will come to resolution by the year end. Ms. Tai noted the tariffs were imposed on Europe but the focus should have been on China, as Europe is a close ally of the US.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, politicians say things and some of it will never come to pass, some of it with cause concerns to companies who export (most of them) and some of the words will tend to hamper sales. The politicians have their own agenda, but it is wonderful if they actually meant the reality of companies. In a competitive environment for sales working against your own government is not the ideal.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.