When it comes to our trade agreements with foreign nations, President Trump has pledged to prioritize defending American workers and standing up to countries that seek to take advantage of them. In just the last few weeks, the Administration has kick-started the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and launched an investigation of Chinese trade practices. Conservatives should be grateful that we finally have an administration that is putting “America First” and standing up to fight for American workers and businesses.
A key test of this “America First” trade policy will be whether the Trump administration chooses to enforce our Open Skies agreements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. Open Skies agreements are bilateral treaties that allow airlines to fly freely between countries without government interference. The United States currently has Open Skies agreements with 121 countries, 119 of which are operating as agreed upon. Two countries are violating the agreements and putting American aviation jobs at risk in the process: the UAE and Qatar.
Both of these countries’ governments are breaching their agreements with the U.S. by providing their state-owned airlines – Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways – with over $50 billion in subsidies. By propping up their airlines with an unprecedented amount of money, the UAE and Qatar are enabling these carriers to be immune to standard market forces and pursue expansion strategies that U.S. airlines are simply…
