Opinion: Look the other way, protectionists

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In 2006, the protectionist Congress’ casualties were Dubai Ports World and Open Skies; could it be Airbus in 2007? It has all the makings of a classic protectionist rumble: An overseas corporation (in this case, European planemaker Airbus) wants to sell the U.S. Air Force possibly 100 tanker jets that refuel other planes in flight. Airbus faces a competing bid from Chicago-based Boeing for a contract that could be worth about $20 billion. This was the subject of a major controversy a few years ago, in which the Air Force employee negotiating the contract was also cozying up to Boeing for a $250,000-a-year job.

Airbus is offering the Air Force a military tanker version of its A330-200 passenger jet (pictured above), a larger and more fuel-efficient competitor than Boeing’s offering, the 767. To sweeten the deal for the Air Force, Airbus would build the A330 tanker in Alabama, and consequently employ many Americans. No matter which planemaker the Air Force chooses, the deal will be a boon to American workers.

Still, there’s reason to be skeptical that Congress would let an Airbus-Air Force deal stand. When it comes to legislating on anything having to do with Boeing or air transportation, members of Congress may as well don Che Guevara berets and trumpet the values of a Socialist utopia. After all, they didn’t even let a company based in a predominantly Muslim country unload crates of T-shirts and toys at American sea ports, nor could they stand the thought of allowing foreigners the opportunity to invest more of their money in U.S. airlines.

Of course, the U.S. and European Union are embroiled in a trade dispute over government subsidies to Airbus, which the Air Force says it will ignore in its negotiations. But will Congress? That remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if, given a possible Air Force deal with Airbus, Washington protectionists start crying wolf over our government signing a $20 billion contract with a European company. You wouldn’t hear much about economics, though, because the Smoot-Hawley caucus usually doesn’t bother with details.

*Photo credit: Reuters