I find an interesting parallel with the current discussion around American business being unduly influenced by China's massive buying power, where even though it's perfectly legal, businesses are so scared of being locked out of China's market that they refrain from any criticism of the government there.
That's a negative side, but a positive side could be feeling great pressure to adhere to the (higher) regulatory standards of other countries. Boeing's capture of the FAA thus becomes a moot point because better regulators will still need their own standards met.
I would just point out that China and the EU will, without question, move to a more robust regulatory régime. I agree with that, that's just going to happen. But also, the US will act to move past its "rubberstamp" regulatory framework.
Now, should China or the EU regard the new US regulatory framework as being any more effective than the last "rubberstamp" US framework? Absolutely not. But changes will happen within the US as well, and there is an opportunity there to make things better.
All that said, yeah, in this case, people can be forgiven for being skeptical of the US. So most of the improvement in quality will likely be driven by the regulatory proctology exams we'll probably see out of China and the EU. But, hey, as long as better quality comes from somewhere, that's better for the people of the world overall.
While there is (a very) slim chance that Boeing and Airbus will face the same scrutiny in Europe - although my bet will be European regulators being somewhat more welcoming and collaborative towards Airbus, do you really expect that the certification times and efforts of Comac and Boeing will be the same in China?
That's a negative side, but a positive side could be feeling great pressure to adhere to the (higher) regulatory standards of other countries. Boeing's capture of the FAA thus becomes a moot point because better regulators will still need their own standards met.