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George F. Will: The radiating mischief of protectionism

Related Topics: George Will, Boeing

Washington • What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive ourselves into believing that corporate welfare can be seemly. Consider the caper, both amusing and depressing, that began when mighty Boeing sought protection behind the skirts of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Boeing, America’s 39th largest corporation by market capitalization (over $150 billion) and 24th by revenues ($94.6 billion), complains that it is being injured because the Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier (market capitalization around $5 billion) was “dumping” its C Series passenger planes in the U.S. market. That is, selling them unfairly cheaply to U.