U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Michael Smith will...

U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Michael Smith will present European Community officials with a plan to resolve the bitter Airbus subsidy dispute at two-day talks opening in Geneva on Thursday, a U.S. official said. “There will be a revised U.S. proposal on the table,” a U.S. spokeswoman said, but she would not describe it. Washington alleges that unfair trading practices by Airbus Industrie, a consortium of aerospace firms in Britain, France, Spain and West Germany, allow the group to sell its aircraft at cut-rate prices. EC officials counter that the U.S. Defense Department provides indirect subsidies through military contracts to U.S. firms.