Tug-Of-War: WTO upholds verdict on Boeing subsidies

EU filed complaint as a counter-suit to US claims that Airbus had benefited from decades of European government loans

PARIS: The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has upheld a ruling that Boeing took billions of dollars of unfair subsidies, people familiar with the matter said. WTO appeal judges are expected to publish their verdict on Monday. The ruling will decide whether the world’s largest plane makers can continue to benefit from alleged public aid for heavy investment in new aircraft. On the other hand, the United States is instead pressing for up to $10 billion in annual sanctions in its own case on Airbus. A WTO panel ruled last year that Boeing had received at least $5.3 billion in subsidies through research contracts mainly from American space agency Nasa, as well as a series of tax breaks. The EU filed the complaint as a counter-suit to US claims that Airbus had benefited from decades of European government loans, which the WTO trade body also deemed unfair.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2012.