U.S. Will Seek Ruling on Airbus Subsidies

The Reagan Administration will consult GATT, the world trade body, to clarify whether under GATT rules the European aircraft consortium Airbus Industrie is unfairly subsidized by European governments, a U.S. official said Monday.

The decision, made last Friday at a meeting of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Council, will likely postpone a potential confrontation with Airbus over its proposed A340 jetliner, which would directly compete with the new McDonnell Douglas wide-bodied jet, the MD-11.

The Administration has charged that Airbus is unfairly subsidized by the European governments that own it, amounting to unfair competition to the U.S. aircraft industry. Officials said recently that if Airbus proceeded with manufacturing of the A340, the United States would consider filing unfair trading charges with GATT.

“We will be requesting a meeting of the GATT aircraft committee immediately,” said the official, who asked not to be identified. He did not say when it could be convened.

“The meeting decided to bring to GATT the question of clarifying what the GATT aircraft agreement says on a number of issues, including government supports, inducements and vendor selection,” the official said.