Brazil opens WTO challenge to Canada over Bombardier aircraft

Brazil announced Wednesday that it has formally challenged Canada at the World Trade Organization over what it says are unfair subsidies for aircraft builder Bombardier.

Brazil requested consultations with Canada at the WTO "over subsidies given by the Canadian government at a federal, provincial and local level to the aerospace industry," the Brazilian foreign ministry said in a statement, singling out aid for Bombardier's C Series airplanes.

According to the statement, Bombardier, a direct competitor of Brazil's Embraer, received $2.5 billion in government aid just in 2016.

Embraer is the world's biggest aircraft builder after Boeing and Airbus.

"The subsidies that the Canadian company has already obtained and continues receiving from the Canadian government have not only been fundamental in the development and survival of the C Series program, but have also allowed Bombardier to offer its aircraft at artificially low prices," said Paulo Cesar Silva, Embraer's CEO, in a statement.

"It is essential to restore a level playing field to the commercial aircraft market and ensure that competition is between companies, not governments."