Time for a Boeing-Airbus settlement
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New York — The long-running trade dispute between Boeing and Airbus has been a source of political grandstanding for years, but with the US’s aggression reaching new levels of hypocrisy, the time may finally be right for a settlement.
The US trade representative’s office announced late on Wednesday that it was leaving tariffs on $7.5bn of imports because the EU had not yet taken enough action to comply with a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling on illegal subsidies for Airbus.
The US is taking certain products from Greece and the UK off the list of items subject to the duties and adding an equal amount of goods from France and Germany, apparently to focus the pressure for a deal on those two countries. But the US refrained from making good on a threat to impose tariffs on $3.1bn of additional goods such as olives and gin and increase existing duties on aircraft, wine and cheese.
The US “is committed to obtaining a long-term resolution to this dispute”, Robert Lighthizer, the trade representative, said in a statement, which called the tariff adjustments “modest”.
Washington’s decision to hold off on increasing tariffs may help avoid the sort of escalation of tensions that would derail further talks. A European Commission post on Twitter called for both sides to “build on this decision and intensify their efforts to find a negotiated solution”.
Let’s hope so. It’s unclear what justification the US has for keeping the tariffs in place at all. The question of who gave what aid many years ago feels a little silly when the pandemic has crippled air travel and forced governments on both sides to bend over backwards to protect their aerospace industries from collapse.
The crux of the US trade complaint against Airbus was that the company depended on low-interest government loans to launch its A350 wide-body jet and the now discontinued A380 superjumbo plane. Airbus said last month that it would amend the terms of the aid to comply with the WTO’s rulings, but Lighthizer has indicated he also wants the EU to somehow pay back the subsidy.
It’s a curious stand to take considering that an unprecedented Federal Reserve bond-buying programme is all that kept Boeing from having to give the government a direct equity stake in exchange for a lifeline. The plane maker has been clear that a $25bn debt sale in April wouldn’t have happened without ...
The US trade representative’s office announced late on Wednesday that it was leaving tariffs on $7.5bn of imports because the EU had not yet taken enough action to comply with a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling on illegal subsidies for Airbus.
The US is taking certain products from Greece and the UK off the list of items subject to the duties and adding an equal amount of goods from France and Germany, apparently to focus the pressure for a deal on those two countries. But the US refrained from making good on a threat to impose tariffs on $3.1bn of additional goods such as olives and gin and increase existing duties on aircraft, wine and cheese.
The US “is committed to obtaining a long-term resolution to this dispute”, Robert Lighthizer, the trade representative, said in a statement, which called the tariff adjustments “modest”.
Washington’s decision to hold off on increasing tariffs may help avoid the sort of escalation of tensions that would derail further talks. A European Commission post on Twitter called for both sides to “build on this decision and intensify their efforts to find a negotiated solution”.
Let’s hope so. It’s unclear what justification the US has for keeping the tariffs in place at all. The question of who gave what aid many years ago feels a little silly when the pandemic has crippled air travel and forced governments on both sides to bend over backwards to protect their aerospace industries from collapse.
The crux of the US trade complaint against Airbus was that the company depended on low-interest government loans to launch its A350 wide-body jet and the now discontinued A380 superjumbo plane. Airbus said last month that it would amend the terms of the aid to comply with the WTO’s rulings, but Lighthizer has indicated he also wants the EU to somehow pay back the subsidy.
It’s a curious stand to take considering that an unprecedented Federal Reserve bond-buying programme is all that kept Boeing from having to give the government a direct equity stake in exchange for a lifeline. The plane maker has been clear that a $25bn debt sale in April wouldn’t have happened without ...
