A GE spokesperson said on April 7 local time that it had obtained an export license from the Trump administration to allow the export of aero engines to the COMAC C919 passenger aircraft.
Reuters exclusive report, General Electric said that it has been notified that the license to export engines to C919 was approved. Safran, a joint venture partner of its subsidiary General Aviation, also confirmed the news.
Earlier this year, some media reported that the United States was considering preventing GE from exporting the CFM LEAP-1C aero engine for C919 to COMAC on the grounds that it feared that China might reverse engineer the engine and damage the US commercial interests.
The US Department of Commerce and the White House did not respond to this.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on February 18 that relevant reports still need to be verified. For some time, the relevant measures adopted by the United States not only harmed the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, but also in the long run did not accord with the interests of American enterprises, but also seriously interfered with normal scientific and technological exchanges and economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and the world. We urge the US to treat Chinese enterprises and China-US normal business cooperation in an objective and fair manner, with more active promotion and less unreasonable disruption.
Trump also posted on social media that day, publicly opposing the US government’s restrictions on GM’s export of engines to China.
He later said in an interview that some people are too “obsessed with national security” and will not sacrifice the interests of American companies because of false “national security.” “I hope China buys our aircraft engines. After all, this is the best in the world.” Then, there were reports from the US media that the US government plans to approve GM to supply engines to China.
Analysts have said that, as Trump said, it is ridiculous for the US authorities to discuss prohibiting GE from selling engines to the C919. The C919 project is currently the second largest order for its subsidiary General Aviation. With the 737MAX grounded for almost a year, GE has been under tremendous operating pressure. If you lose the C919 future big order, then the previous R & D expenses will be completely floated, and you may even face huge compensation for the lack of supply.
Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, last Monday (30th), General Electric announced that its aviation business segment will dismiss 2,500 employees and “temporarily” dismiss 50% of domestic maintenance, repair and operations personnel within 3 months. The move triggered union protests.
Reuters reported on Thursday (2nd) that sources said that senior US government officials have recently agreed on three measures to tighten the export of high-tech products to China, including preventing Chinese companies from buying certain optical materials and radar from the US Equipment and semiconductors.
In response, nine major organizations in the US chip industry sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Ross on Monday, criticizing that these changes may have a significant impact on the semiconductor industry, the global supply chain, and the broader technology field. Urge them to consult the public before the new regulations come into effect to avoid unintended consequences.