ICYMI: Boeing Reacts To Ex-Im Debate

oday, Boeing Chairman Jim McNerney said the company is considering moving “key pieces” of its operations to foreign countries which provide export credit assistance due to the ongoing and unresolved Ex-Im debate in Washington.

McNerney is now questioning his decision to prioritize maintaining production and jobs in the U.S. since Congress is about to recess without passing long-term Ex-Im reauthorization.

Below, please find Reuters’ reporting of these remarks.

 

~Kate

 

Boeing Says Considering Moving Work Overseas Due To Ex-Im Saga

By Andrea Shalal

 

Boeing Co Chairman Jim McNerney said on Wednesday the company was actively considering moving “key pieces” of the company to other countries given the ongoing debate in the U.S. Congress over the future of the Export-Import Bank.

 

“We are now forced to think about this differently,” McNerney said in an interview hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, adding that Boeing may move some operations to countries that did offer export credits.

 

McNerney, who retired as Boeing’s chief executive of the company on July 1 after 10 years in the job, said he was questioning his decision to maintain production and jobs in the United States given the debate over export financing.

 

“I’m beginning to think that maybe I made the wrong decision,” McNerney said.

 

McNerney said he was more worried than ever that the U.S. Congress could fail to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank, whose charter expired on June 30.

 

A congressional standoff over U.S. transportation funding deepened on Monday when the No. 2 House Republican said he would reject the Senate’s $350 billion multi-year road and mass transit bill, which would have reauthorized the bank.

 

The jam-up made it less likely that the future of the Ex-Im Bank will be addressed as part of a highway funding bill. The trade bank’s next chance to resume lending and guarantee operations would not likely come until September.