Air TransportThe Uniqueness of the E175 Jet Helped Embraer Escape Trump's Super Tariff
After weeks of impasse, Embraer was spared the 50% tariff imposed by the Trump administration on goods imported from Brazil, which threatened to destroy the planemaker’s momentum.
And, despite the company’s own efforts to convince officials not to include the aircraft in the measure, the weight of the regional airlines’ lobbying was decisive in reversing this situation.
Carriers Envoy Air, Piedmont Airlines, and Republic Airways wrote to the Commerce Department warning that the tariff would jeopardize regional air travel in the country, Reuters reported.
Their argument is more than simple: the E175 jet, which they operate, is currently the only one in its category available on the market after the end of production of the CRJ models and the cancellation of Mitsubishi’s SpaceJet program.
The aircraft complies with the scope clause agreed upon between major US airlines and the flight crew union, which limits the operation of aircraft with up to 76 seats and 86,000 pounds of maximum takeoff weight on regional feeder routes.
Therefore, derailing the sale of these jets would jeopardize flight networks in small cities across the country.
3,000 jobs in the US
Embraer has over 200 pending E175 delivery orders, almost all from US airlines. American Airlines alone has 90 aircraft on order, while SkyWest has another 60 jets. The airline had recently said it would not assume the burden of paying the 50% tariff.
Francisco Gomes Neto, CEO of Embraer, also provided authorities with information about the measure’s impact on the manufacturer’s approximately 3,000 jobs in the US, as well as its impact on its local suppliers.
The Brazilian company still has the largest market for its successful business jet line in the country, with 70% of orders, many of them for aircraft assembled in the US.
The tariff relief (which was limited to the previously announced 10%) sent Embraer shares soaring on the New York and São Paulo stock exchanges in Brazil.
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Ricardo Meier
Creator of the website that started in 1996 as a magazine. He also writes on Brazilian websites AUTOO, MOTOO and MetrôCPTM.
