Bombardier Versus Embraer: Charges of Unfair Competition

One of Canada's high-tech success stories, Bombardier, changed the airline industry with the introduction of its short-haul turbo-prop planes and jets in the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, a new player from Brazil, Embraer, had entered the market and was capturing a lot of business from Bombardier. Bombardier claimed that the success of Embraer was due to unfair subsidies through a government program, so Bombardier challenged the policies through the WTO. Embraer charged back that Bombardier had long received subsidies through Canadian government loans and grants. In an industry which was expected to double in the next five years, the stakes were high. This case discusses the dispute resolution process within the WTO, and the impacts that subsidies and WTO subsidy restrictions may have on industry structure.