Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg called on President-elect Donald Trump and Congress to ensure that US companies have the tools necessary to compete in a global economy, from a reformed tax code to financial support from the moribund US Export-Import Bank.
For Chicago-based Boeing, the largest US exporter, that means a reformed tax code, a fair global trade system, regulatory changes that make it easier to close foreign defense sales and re-opening the ex-im bank for business, Muilenburg said Friday in remarks to the Illinois Manufacturers' Association.
The US needs to continue to play a leading role when it comes to global trade agreements, Muilenburg said. Trump vowed on the campaign trail to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying the pact with Canada and Mexico has drained jobs.
"If we do not lead when it comes to writing these rules, our competitors will write them for us," Muilenburg said. "For Boeing, that could result in higher costs, disrupted supply chains and regulations that diminish our ability to sell products around the world."
Muilenburg said Boeing had been concerned by the anti-trade rhetoric voiced by Republicans and Democrats during the recent election cycle.