Trump talk rattles aerospace industry, up and down supply chain

Companies along Boeing’s supply chain are growing increasingly concerned over the impact Donald Trump’s “buy American” policies could have on their businesses. His proposals to levy high import taxes on goods coming from overseas have already resulted in cost cutting pressures from the aircraft manufacturer, with some supply chain partners merging or reducing their workforces as a result. Speaking to The New York Times, Bob Bishop, chief operations officer of SmartCells and a Trump voter, says Mr Trump’s “hard charging” style doesn’t always work. SmartCells, which manufactures rubber mats that Boeing workers stand on while assembling jets, had already ditched plans to expand into China, under the assumption that international trade would become more difficult under President Trump.