If Washington believes that the repeal of certain US support measures for Boeing will bring an end to this dispute, which is more than 15 years old, this is not the case for the European Commission.
On 6 May, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) formally notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of the repeal of the FSC/ETI tax exemption measures provided by the State of Washington to the aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
For Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, “with Washington State’s repeal of this relatively minor tax reduction, the United States has fully implemented the WTO’s recommendation, ending this dispute”, brought by the EU against US aid to Boeing (DS 353). He says that “this step ensures that there is no valid basis for the EU to retaliate against any US goods”.
However, the Union challenges this and points out that the WTO alone will decide in this dispute. “The EU does not agree with the US unilateral assertion that it has fully implemented the DSB recommendations and rulings in this dispute”, the Commission spokesman told EUROPE on 8 May.
And to underline that, in addition to the support of Washington State, the WTO ruling in this dispute covered a wider spectrum of measures, including those of NASA, the Department of Defence research and development subsidies and other national and local measures (see EUROPE 12224/20).
The Airbus case
Furthermore, the Commission points out that the EU had also notified the WTO on compliance measures in the dispute initiated by Washington against European subsidies to Airbus (DS 316), which were rejected by the USTR and which the EU cannot have validated because of the paralysis of the Appellate Body. Since October 2019, European imports have been subject to US tariff sanctions (see EUROPE 12352/16).
While the EU has already published the list of US imports that may be subject to tariff measures (see EUROPE 12238/1), the Commission regularly recalls that it preferred an amicable settlement to a tariff war (see EUROPE 12449/27). (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)