- Title: U.S. wins backing for $7.5 bln tariffs on EU in jet subsidy clash
- Date: 2nd October 2019
- Summary: BANNER AT FACILITY SHOWING PICTURE OF PLANE AND READING (English): "BUILDING OUR FUTURE TOGETHER - FIRST 737 MAX 2015"
- Embargoed: 16th October 2019 15:08
- Keywords: France decision Boeing European Union Airbus United States subsidy WTO dispute
- Location: RENTON, WASHINGTON, AND WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN LOCATIONS / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / TOULOUSE, FRANCE / IN AIR / LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: RENTON, WASHINGTON, AND WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN LOCATIONS / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / TOULOUSE, FRANCE / IN AIR / LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: France
- Topics: Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA005AZEOI87
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The United States won approval on Wednesday (October 2) to impose tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of European goods over illegal EU subsidies handed to Airbus, threatening to trigger a tit-for-tat transatlantic trade war as the global economy falters.
The decision by the World Trade Organization pushes a 15-year corporate dispute over illegal support for transatlantic plane giants to the centre of caustic world trade relations and comes on top of a tariff war between Washington and Beijing.
The European Commission said in response that a U.S. move to impose trade sanctions on EU imports would be "short-sighted and counterproductive" and risked causing damage on both sides of the Atlantic.
The WTO has found that both Europe's Airbus and its U.S. rival Boeing received billions of dollars of illegal subsidies in the world's largest corporate trade dispute, a legal marathon dating back to 2004.
The two cases are expected to lead to tit-for-tat tariffs, beginning with the U.S. measures, posing new problems for businesses and financial markets around the world.
The focus of nervous markets will now shift to Washington where the U.S. Trade Representative is expected to move quickly to narrow down a preliminary list of goods in line for tariffs, a U.S. source said.
The agency's provisional list of products that are eligible to be targeted with tariffs ranges from Airbus jets themselves to helicopters, wine, handbags and cheese.
Before any tariffs can be imposed, the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body must formally adopt the arbiters' report in a process expected to take between 10 days and 4 weeks.
Its next scheduled meeting is on Oct. 28, but Washington could request a special meeting 10 days after the arbiters' report is published, suggesting an earliest possible final nod on Oct. 12.
In the largest case ever handled by the WTO, Washington had requested permission to impose tariffs on up to $11.2 billion of EU goods. Brussels is pushing for tariffs of around $10 billion on American goods in parallel process to be decided by the WTO early next year.
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