Press Releases

Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kansas), representative of the Air Capital of the World and co-chair of the House Aerospace Caucus, recently led a letter with 23 colleagues urging United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer and the Trump administration to build on the zero-zero tariff environment for aerospace and defense manufacturing as part of the 1979 Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft.
 
“America’s A&D companies are global leaders in manufacturing and sustaining technologies across the commercial aviation, defense, and space sectors,” writes Rep. Estes and colleagues. “The U.S. A&D industry produces the best systems and components in the world, resulting in the largest consistent trade surplus across the U.S. manufacturing sector. In 2023, American A&D exports were $135.9 billion, and imports were $61.4 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $74.5 billion.”
 
The letter concludes, “For these reasons, we respectfully urge the Administration to build on the success of the zero-zero tariff environment in this sector by reinforcing such treatment through all bilateral trade negotiations. This will drive additional U.S. competitiveness in the global aerospace sector. We appreciate the Administration’s continued attention on these issues and look forward to a sustained partnership to make sure America continues to drive leadership of the global aerospace industry.”
 
Rep. Estes was joined by Reps. Sam Graves, Adrian Smith, Mike Kelly, David Schweikert, Kevin Hern, Carol D. Miller, Gregory F. Murphy, M.D., Blake D. Moore, Beth Van Duyne, Mike Carey, Brian K. Fitzpatrick, Rudy Yakym III, Jack Bergman, Pete Stauber, Tracey Mann, Barry Moore, Jay Obernolte, Brad Finstad, Rich McCormick, MD, MBA, Brian Jack, Brad Knott, Tim Moore and Derek Schmidt.
 
Download the full letter here or read below.
 
The Honorable Jamieson Greer
Ambassador
United States Trade Representative
600 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20006
 
Dear Ambassador Greer:
 
We write to commend this Administration’s commitment to restore a robust American manufacturing sector. We are proud to work with the Administration to make historic progress to make American manufacturing great. In this context, we write to highlight the importance of the 1979 Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft (the “Agreement”) to the United States’ Aerospace and Defense (A&D) industry’s trade surplus, specifically civilian aviation, and its high-wage domestic manufacturing workforce. 
 
America’s A&D companies are global leaders in manufacturing and sustaining technologies across the commercial aviation, defense, and space sectors. The U.S. A&D industry produces the best systems and components in the world, resulting in the largest consistent trade surplus across the U.S. manufacturing sector. In 2023, American A&D exports were $135.9 billion, and imports were $61.4 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $74.5 billion.
 
Comprising more than 100,000 companies, large and small, across commercial and defense markets, the American A&D industry drives the U.S. economy, generating nearly $422 billion in business output in 2023. That alone contributed 1.6 percent to the 2023 U.S. gross domestic product.
 
A&D companies invest tens of billions of dollars annually in the United States, creating highly skilled new jobs and enhancing U.S. economic and national security. These companies provide top-paying jobs in all 50 states with numerous employees, facilities, and suppliers. In 2023, the domestic A&D workforce grew 4.8 percent to over 2.2 million employed Americans.
 
The U.S. A&D industry is a best-in-class example of an America First Trade Policy. It creates high-wage manufacturing jobs in every state and its commitment to innovation sustains U.S. world leadership in aerospace technology.
 
A key reason for American dominance in the global aerospace industry is how the United States has leveraged the Agreement. In the 1960s and 1970s, several competing countries established tariffs and non-tariff barriers for commercial aviation production and its supply chain. Working on a bipartisan basis, Congress and the Administration collaborated on structuring and negotiating a sectoral agreement to establish wholly reciprocal duty-free trade for commercial aircraft, parts and components. There are 33 signatories and 25 observer countries that have consistently adhered to this reciprocal tariff-free regime.
 
America’s innovative A&D industry has taken full advantage of this reciprocity to establish global dominance. Since the Agreement came into effect in 1980, the U.S. trade surplus in A&D has grown over 2,000 percent. American companies control the high end of the value chain, increasing U.S. competitiveness and our trade surplus. In addition, the innovation, profits, and growth of the U.S. commercial aviation sector is integral to the U.S. defense industry due to crossover benefits of A&D technologies and our world-class manufacturing workforce.
 
For these reasons, we respectfully urge the Administration to build on the success of the zero-zero tariff environment in this sector by reinforcing such treatment through all bilateral trade negotiations. This will drive additional U.S. competitiveness in the global aerospace sector. We appreciate the Administration’s continued attention on these issues and look forward to a sustained partnership to make sure America continues to drive leadership of the global aerospace industry.