Two days have passed since US President Donald Trump announced unprecedented sweeping tariffs against over 180 countries, including some of the US’s closest allies.
The stark impact on aviation can already be seen, with share prices among the industry’s major players falling as they try to untangle the complexities that the new tariffs will bring.
Airbus and Boeing, as well as major US carriers such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, all saw the price of their stock fall as markets opened following the announcement.
As the industry has inherently relied on tariff-free cross border trade, the anxiety around the aviation sector is perhaps at its highest since the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far, most of the industry’s heavyweights have yet to comment, with companies such as Airbus, Boeing, Safran and Rolls-Royce maintaining a wall of silence on the introduction of new tariffs.
Much of the industry is now awaiting the European Union (EU) response to President Trump’s actions, to understand the true impact and discover whether a full-blown trade war between the two economy superpowers ignites.
According to Huffpost, the CEO of Airbus, Guillaume Faury. and the CEO of Safran, Olivier Andriès, met with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, for discussions on April 3, 2025, at the Élysée Palace.
There had been hopes that, due to the global aviation industry being inextricably intertwined with itself, it may have been sheltered from President Trump’s tariffs, but that ambition evaporated quickly on April 2, 2025.
Among the list of countries or regions affected are the European Union with a 20% tax on exports to the US, plus the UK with a 10% tax. India was hit with a 26% tariff, South Korea 25%, Japan 24% and Taiwan 32%.
Concerns are now running high within the aviation industry. Many companies rely on global supply chains, so the introduction of tariffs could upset the free flow of goods between countries and lead to higher costs.
