(Reuters) -Embraer’s CEO said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs would add complexity and costs for the Brazilian jet maker’s business and its U.S. customers.
This month, Trump introduced a minimum of 10% duties for all U.S. imports, with targeted rates of up to 50% to help the U.S. recapture an industrial base that he says has withered over decades of trade liberalization.
The tariffs led aerospace suppliers and planemakers to comb through contracts to check their exposure in an industry that had largely avoided such duties.
Aside from an 18-month transatlantic tariff war over Airbus and Boeing (NYSE: BA ) subsidies in 2020 and 2021, the industry has broadly operated under a 1979 treaty on zero-duty trading in aerospace that includes the U.S. and Canada, but not Mexico.
"We have to be realistic about these tariffs," Embraer CEO Francisco Gomes Neto told an event in Sao Paulo. "If it continues like this, this will bring more complexity and costs to companies, including Embraer."
Neto said he also sees the prospect for negotiations that could help remove tariffs on aviation.
While Brazil faces a 10% tariff, U.S. importers of Embraer commercial and business jets would not pay that amount since their aircraft has high content from the U.S. which can be deducted from duties, Neto and industry sources said.
Planemaker Boeing has not commented on tariffs, while rival Airbus has said it remains committed to its industrial footprint in Canada and the U.S.
U.S. trade group Aerospace Industries Association has said in a statement it was assessing the impacts of the tariffs on industry.
Joe Buccino, spokesperson for supplier Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE: SPR ) , said it was working to mitigate the impact of tariffs that are boosting costs of certain parts and raw materials it uses to manufacture products in the U.S.