U.S. to Continue Probe Into Canadian Jet Sales

U.S. trade officials said Friday that they would continue a probe into alleged unfair price discounting of passenger jets by Bombardier Inc., fueling a dispute that has riled the Canadian government and threatens a big defense sale by Boeing Co.

The U.S. International Trade Commission voted to continue the investigation triggered by Boeing's complaint that Bombardier had engaged in predatory pricing in a sale of CSeries jets to Delta Air Lines Inc., a charge the company denies.

The Commerce Department has previously said it could introduce tariffs as soon as this year on the Bombardier CS100 jets if it finds trade rules were broken.

Canada last week broke off talks with Boeing about the potential purchase of 18 combat jets.

The Boeing charge has been widely criticized by many aviation analysts as plane makers routinely sell initial aircraft at below-cost prices to win market traction, while Bombardier is offering a jet with little or no overlap to the U.S. company's own products.

Bombardier has called for the case to be dismissed and said its planes don't compete directly with the Boeing aircraft. Canada has denied it provided Bombardier with illegal subsidies.

Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 09, 2017 12:21 ET (16:21 GMT)