The trans-Atlantic dispute over a 50-billion US Air Force refuelling tanker contract reached new heights Friday, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused Washington of protectionism -- a policy that the USA usually warns other countries against. If the US "wants to be taken seriously in the fight against protectionism, they should be setting a better example," said Sarkozy at the joint press conference with his British counterpart in London.
The trans-Atlantic dispute over a 50-billion US Air Force refuelling tanker contract reached new heights Friday, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused Washington of protectionism -- a policy that the USA usually warns other countries against.
If the US "wants to be taken seriously in the fight against protectionism, they should be setting a better example," said Sarkozy at the joint press conference with his British counterpart in London.
Boeing paid for a study which found that an aerial tanker built by the plane maker would create 10 times more new American jobs than a plan from a consortium between Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). ..."The US government, I say, obliged EADS to leave the competition for the US tanker jets," Fillon said. "I think that the attitude of the US government is a serious incompliance to the rules of loyal competition established between our countries," the French prime minister added. French State Secretary for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche was even more critical. The word "scandal" was too weak to describe the offence, he said. "There is no reason why a technology, which by the way is superior to the American one, should be ousted from the market," Lellouche stated. Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Enders also criticised the US government's "bias" in awarding the tender.
Boeing paid for a study which found that an aerial tanker built by the plane maker would create 10 times more new American jobs than a plan from a consortium between Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS).
..."The US government, I say, obliged EADS to leave the competition for the US tanker jets," Fillon said. "I think that the attitude of the US government is a serious incompliance to the rules of loyal competition established between our countries," the French prime minister added.
French State Secretary for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche was even more critical. The word "scandal" was too weak to describe the offence, he said. "There is no reason why a technology, which by the way is superior to the American one, should be ousted from the market," Lellouche stated.
Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Enders also criticised the US government's "bias" in awarding the tender.
Huge. Mendacious.
