WTO Launches Aid Probes of Boeing, Airbus

The World Trade Organization on Wednesday launched twin investigations into state aid for aviation giants Boeing Co. and Airbus, but the United States and the European Union reaffirmed that they were still ready to negotiate a deal.

The Geneva-based trade referee set up panels to investigate accusations by the U.S. and the EU over billions of dollars they say have been paid to the world’s two largest commercial aircraft makers in violation of trade rules.

The dispute could strain transatlantic relations just as the U.S. and the EU are struggling to give impetus to troubled WTO free-trade talks.

But even as the WTO started the legal ball rolling, both sides declared that they were open to further bilateral talks to resolve the argument.

“We continue to prefer a negotiated solution and are prepared to negotiate in parallel with our WTO case,” said Rich Mills, a spokesman for the United States trade representative.

In Brussels, EU trade spokeswoman Claude Veron-Reville had a similar message.

“We are not negotiating [right now], but of course the channels of communication remain open,” she said.

The decision to investigate the complaints was an automatic one under WTO rules as it was the second request by both sides.

Washington, which has been setting the pace in the dispute, initially went to the WTO with its complaint in October, prompting a tit-for-tat reaction from Brussels.

At the time, both sides immediately agreed to put litigation on hold and made a fresh bid to negotiate a solution.

But with no deal in sight, the United States returned to Geneva to seek a ruling from the WTO, and the EU did the same. Both blamed the other for the stalemate.

Even agreeing on who should sit on the trade panel could take a couple of months, and a final verdict -- after any appeals against the panel findings are heard -- is unlikely before the end of next year, trade officials say.