The ongoing fight between the United States and Europe over subsidies to the world’s two largest commercial aircraft manufacturers is soaring, now that European officials scored one back with an international trade body.

 

The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in a preliminary finding this week that Boeing benefited from $5 billion in illegal subsidies provided by state and federal agencies, including the Department of Defense and NASA. U.S. leaders responded by pointing out that $5 billion was considerably less than the $24 billion in subsidies that Europeans had claimed benefitted Boeing.

 

In June the WTO ruled that decades of subsidies and $15 billion in below-market loans were responsible for helping Airbus, the European jet builder, pass Boeing to become the world’s leading manufacturer of jets.

 

U.S. and European negotiators are expected to discuss ways to settle the longstanding dispute over unfair trading practices that have aided both Boeing and Airbus in their fight to sell more aircraft. The full 1,500-page WTO report has not yet been made public and has only been seen by government officials.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Boeing Received Illegal Aid, WTO Says (by John Miller and Daniel Michaels, Wall Street Journal)

WTO Rules Boeing Got Illegal U.S. Aid, Officials Say (by Jonathan Stearns, Jennifer M. Freedman and Andrea Rothman, Bloomberg)

W.T.O. Said to Find Improper Subsidies for Boeing (by Christopher Drew and Nicola Clark, New York Times)