EU Seeks to Clarify Airbus-Boeing Talks

The European Union demanded clarification Monday on whether Washington still was interested in talks to resolve a decades-old trade dispute over subsidies given to aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing Co.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson was “frankly surprised” that the United States had threatened to cut off talks Friday, EU spokeswoman Claude Veron-Reville said, adding that no official word was given directly to Mandelson.

“We feel that the ball is very clearly in the American court, and we are waiting for them to clarify their position,” Veron-Reville said. “We understood from some press statements that they were withdrawing from the negotiations, but we received no prior communication of that.”

Richard Mills, a spokesman for the U.S. trade representative, said Friday that the U.S. might reinstate a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization because the EU “is unwilling to eliminate launch aid subsidies for Airbus.”

On Monday, Mills said the United States remained committed to the talks and was bewildered by the EU’s request for clarification. He said the two sides remained in contact.

“We are ready to talk. All we said on Friday is that things were at an impasse,” he said in an interview. “The core issue remains, is the European Union willing to give up launch aid? It’s a very basic question.”

“We have not left the table; they have,” Mills said. “They have been wandering around, moving further away from the Jan. 11 agreement. That’s the agreed-upon terms of the negotiations. That’s the table that was set.”

Veron-Reville said, however, that the talks had made progress. But she warned that the EU would sign a deal only if it was balanced, cutting subsidies equally to the two companies, and said the EU would resume talks only after a clarification.

She reiterated the EU’s warning that if the United States filed a case at the WTO, the EU would file a countersuit. It would set up a drawn-out trade battle.

Washington and Brussels accused each other Saturday of trying to renege on a Jan. 11 pledge to resolve the trade spat. U.S. officials said that during the talks the EU had been trying to backtrack on a commitment to cut subsidies, especially related to aid given to Airbus to launch new aircraft models.

The sudden souring of the talks reflects the complex, politically sensitive nature of subsidies for aircraft makers on both sides of the Atlantic, U.S. and European officials said.