Feb 20 (Reuters) - Airbus could prioritise

deliveries to non-U.S. customers if tariffs imposed by U.S.

President Donald Trump were to disrupt the company's imports in

the country, CEO Guillaume Faury said in an interview with CNBC

on Thursday.

Trump said on Wednesday he will announce new tariffs over

the next month or sooner, adding to duties he has introduced

since taking office, which could affect the aerospace industry

and its suppliers among other sectors.

"We have a large demand from the rest of the world, so

we face very significant difficulties to deliver to the U.S., we

can also adapt by bringing forward deliveries to other customers

which are very eager to get planes", Faury said.

Earlier in the day, he had told journalists while presenting

Airbus' annual results in Toulouse that the group "should not be

directly impacted by tariffs".

"Indeed, we are buying a lot from the U.S. We are selling to

the U.S., we manufacture, we assemble, we develop in the U.S.

like few other companies ... and we believe tariffs in this

industry would be lose-lose," he said at the press conference.

Airbus spends 15 billion euros ($15.70 billion) annually

with its network of more than 2,000 suppliers in the U.S., which

is the largest single supplier to the company, according to the

company's website.

The France-based planemaker, the main rival of Boeing ( BA )

, has expanded U.S. operations in recent years, with its

Alabama plant employing more than 2,000 people in the final

assembly of the A320 and A220 aircraft family.

But the group is having to deal with supply chain

bottlenecks that are straining an aerospace industry already

challenged by a shortage of experienced workers.

Airbus excluded the potential impact from threatened trade

tariffs from the 2025 financial guidance it disclosed on

Thursday, saying it will adapt accordingly.

"We have not taken major actions so far... we are more in a

wait-and-see mode," Faury told analysts during the company's

earnings call.

($1 = 0.9555 euros)