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Boeing<\/a> Co.\u2019s chief executive officer warned that a U.S. turn toward isolation would hamper exports and damage the economy, speaking out against protectionist rhetoric as the nation prepares for a pivotal presidential election.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a company that relies on trade,\u201d outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun said in an onstage interview at the Berlin Aviation Summit on Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019ll be the first to acknowledge that that seems to be going in the wrong direction and has been for quite some time.\u201d<\/p>\n Calhoun didn\u2019t express a preference between the presumptive nominees, incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Biden last month raised tariffs on an array of Chinese goods, including battery-powered vehicles, while Trump has said the measures didn\u2019t go\u00a0far enough<\/a>.<\/p>\n Aircraft purchases can rise or fall with economic relationships, particularly in high-growth markets like China. European rival Airbus<\/a> SE has sought to improve its foothold in that market with local manufacturing, while Boeing\u2019s business there has been held back because of fraying relations between the two countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n Calhoun spoke as Boeing works to restart plane deliveries to China, which have been halted as regulators there scrutinize the design of a new cockpit voice recorder for its 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner models. Bloomberg reported earlier that low-cost carrier 9Air expects a 737 delivery this week.<\/p>\n The delivery halt in China has hampered Boeing\u2019s effort to empty a backlog of finished planes destined for the Asian country that has lingered since the grounding of the 737 Max in 2019, following two fatal crashes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Resuming those handovers would help Boeing limit a cash drain while it retools its factories to address safety issues arising from the latest 737 accident, the blowout of a fuselage panel in January. \u00a0<\/p>\n Calhoun said Boeing is a \u201cdifferent company\u201d since the Jan. 5 accident, when a fuselage panel ejected from a nearly new 737 Max 9, terrifying passengers aboard the Alaska Air Group<\/a> Inc. flight.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whle no-one was seriously injured, the mishap set off a wave of regulatory scutiny on the US planemaker, and forced the company to limit production of the 737, its biggest moneymaker. Calhoun has agreed to step down at year-end as part of a management overhaul.\u00a0<\/p>\n Calhoun said he\u2019d continue to lobby for free trade and expressed support for a strong NATO. Trump has criticized members of the US-Europe defense coalition, demanding allies fulfill their spending commitments as a condition of protection.\u00a0<\/p>\n Airbus and Boeing for decades have sparred over government policies that offer any hint of an advantage for one side or the other, even as the two dominant planemakers espouse the benefits of free trade. \u00a0<\/p>\n Calhoun said he\u2019s worried that isolation will damage economies in the long run. His concerns echo those raised by other large exporters, including German\u00a0carmakers<\/a>, that protectionist policies will poison the marketplace for companies reliant on selling their goods abroad.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIsolation then breeds disenchantment; disenchantment ultimately breeds political turnover,\u201d Calhoun said. \u201cThat\u2019s the world I worry about with respect to isolation, and I don\u2019t like any of the signs I see.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\u2018Different Company\u2019<\/h3>\n