aimless

An article at CNNMoney.com quotes members of congress regarding the award of the tanker contract to Northop/EADS:

“It truly makes me question our trade agenda when we brought a massive case before the WTO…then turn around and bestow one of the largest military contracts we’ve ever had to the same company that received the same launch aid,” Roberts said during questioning of U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said he agreed with Roberts, calling the Air Force decision “very disturbing.”

Schwab said U.S. trade officials are “still pursuing as actively as ever” the complaint against the EU at the WTO. She said Air Force officials sought information from the trade office about the WTO dispute early in the procurement review, but had not consulted with USTR on the decision.

The WTO is expected to rule on the U.S. complaint in April or May.

Roberts said that if the U.S. wins the case, it will be entitled to retaliate with punitive tariffs on imports from the EU. That creates a situation where ” U.S. taxpayers could potentially foot the bill for higher duties on spare parts for an Airbus tanker being assembled in the United States,” he said.

Sure, that makes sense.

Read the entire article here.

I read these comments about the award of the lucrative defense contract recently awarded to Northop Grumman and EADS (parent of Airbus), and it summed up my opinion well. There is something that is just not sitting right about military equipment being made by the same European countries that do not support us. Isn’t that a little like asking a dog to watch the steak until you get back?

Hunter: Air Force Decision Costs U.S. More Than 100,000 Thousand Jobs

Washington D.C. - U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), the Ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement regarding the Air Force’s decision to award the KC-45A tanker contract to Northop Grumman-European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS):

…

“These are the same European governments who are unwilling to support us in the Global War on Terror and over the last few months refused to provide even an additional one hundred soldiers apiece for Afghanistan operations. Instead, we have to send 3,200 additional U.S. Marines to Afghanistan while they take $35 billion in American taxpayer contracts. Two-thirds of the foreign countries involved in this deal also fail to spend the minimum of two percent of GDP on defense as required by NATO membership.”

Yep, that about sums it up. Read the entire article here.