November 14, 2011 10:28AM 

# Ex-Im Bank Pits U.S. Industry Against Industry 

By [Sallie James](https://www.cato.org/people/sallie-james) 

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I know it’s unseemly to brag, but I just couldn’t help but feel vindicated when I read [this article in the *Wall Street Journal*](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203503204577035823292929812.html) today about recent complaints by the Air Transport Association to the Export-Import Bank of the United States regarding their loan guarantees to foreign airliners.

On page 15 of my recent Trade Policy Analysis, “[Time to X Out the Ex-Im Bank](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13249)”, I warn: “…the billions of dollars the bank authorizes each year in financing to foreign airlines to buy American aircraft could be seen as a way of helping foreign airlines compete against American ones.”

Behold, buried on page B4:

> In a letter to Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg earlier this month, the Air Transport Association, a trade group for America’s biggest carriers, called on the federal agency to slash subsidies to all overseas buyers of Boeing jets.
> 
> 
> “The bank’s support for foreign airlines injures U.S. carriers,” said ATA outside counsel Michael K. Kellogg…

&lt;/​smug&gt;

##### Related Tags 

[Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies) 

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