The World Trade Organization (WTO) has authorized the European Union to impose tariffs on the United States (U.S.) goods, worth $4 billion annually. The decision was made following the previous WTO panel and appellate reports from 2011 to 2019 which stated that the subsidies granted to Boeing violated WTO rules.
As a result, Airbus claimed that the U.S. subsidies to Boeing continued to cause significant harm to the European plane maker, including lost sales of $4 billion dollars every year.
On October 13, 2020 Guillaume Faury, the CEO of Airbus, announced that the manufacturer supported the European Union Commission and expected the authority to take all necessary steps to create a level playing field for both companies.
“Airbus did not start this WTO dispute, and we do not wish to continue the harm to the customers and suppliers of the aviation industry and to all other sectors impacted,” in a press release announced Faury.
“As we have already demonstrated, we remain prepared and ready to support a negotiation process that leads to a fair settlement. The WTO has now spoken, the EU can implement its countermeasures. It is time to find a solution now so that tariffs can be removed on both sides of the Atlantic,” added the CEO of Airbus.
On April 17, 2019, the European Commission issued the preliminary list of the U.S. products which were considered as countermeasures due to a dispute at the WTO. The Boeing aircraft was also included in the list.