U.S. Poised to Revive Airbus Case at WTO
The U.S. is ready to revive its complaint at the World Trade Organization against European aid for plane maker Airbus after two months of talks broke down, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick said.
Airbus has received more than $15 billion in government loans that amounted to illegal subsidies under global trade rules, according to a U.S. complaint to the WTO on Oct. 6. The European Union filed a counterclaim, saying Boeing Co. has benefited from unfair support of as much as $23 billion.
“Launch aid is going to be a pretty clear violation,” Zoellick told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday, adding that any EU counter-case against U.S. research assistance to Boeing would be weaker. The EU “will have a hard time making the case under WTO rules,” the former U.S. trade representative said.
Talks over ending aid to France-based Airbus and Chicago-based Boeing, the only two makers of large commercial jets in the world, broke down last month before an April 11 deadline set by both sides. A WTO complaint would be the largest in the Geneva-based arbiter’s 10-year history.
Both sides pledged Jan. 11 to suspend any new aid and defer tit-for-tat litigation for three months. With that deadline looming, the EU is trying to head off a possible resumption of proceedings in the WTO by warning that the time needed to adjudicate a case would give Europe time to give loans to Airbus.
John Bruton, the EU’s ambassador to the U.S., said Monday that a U.S. complaint at the WTO would lead to the maximum aid being given out by European governments for the development of the Airbus A350, whose size is similar to that of the new Boeing 787.
Zoellick said the EU hadn’t offered any assurances that it would ban loans for new Airbus models, a U.S. condition for not taking the case to the WTO, increasing the likelihood that the April 11 deadline won’t be extended.
Boeing has seen its share of the market drop to 48% from 73% in 1993, losing its title as the world’s largest plane maker in 2003, when Airbus outsold it 305 to 281. Boeing said Monday that it would win more commercial plane orders than Airbus this year as the U.S. company offers airlines bigger discounts.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, Tuesday repeated its earlier call for talks with the U.S. to continue.
Boeing and Airbus said they wanted the talks to succeed.
“We’d hoped the two sides would have been able to come to an understanding, but it looks like it will go to the WTO,” Scott Carson, Boeing’s vice president of commercial aircraft sales, said Monday.
Philippe Camus, co-chief executive of Airbus owner European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co., said Tuesday in Paris that he would prefer the matter to be resolved outside the WTO.
