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EU Plans to Take Trade Measures Against US as Part of WTO Boeing Dispute

In mid-October, the WTO granted the European Union the right to respond to the largest arbitration award in the history of the trade body, which allowed the US to impose tariffs totalling $7.5 billion on Airbus SE jets and some other imports from Europe.
Sputnik

The European Commission stated on Monday that the bloc intends to introduce measures against the US starting Tuesday as part of the WTO dispute over Boeing.

"Regrettably, in spite of our best efforts due to the lack of progress from (the) US side, we can confirm that the European Union will later today exercise our rights and impose counter-measures awarded to us by the WTO,'' EU Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said.

The commission also added that the EU is ready to cancel the tariffs if the US does the same.

"Of course, we remain open to a negotiated solution. Our proposal remains on the table that both sides withdraw their tariffs,'' Dombrovskis said, adding that "so far, the U.S. has not agreed to withdraw their tariffs.''

The European Commission has not yet disclosed the details of trade measures that it intends to introduce against the United States from Tuesday in the WTO dispute over Boeing, but we are talking about a similar approach that the United States took against the EU in the Airbus case, Dombrovskis said.

France Approves WTO Ruling Allowing EU to Overtax US-Made Goods Amid Airbus-Boeing Clash
Last month, the WTO allowed the European Union to introduce a limited amount of penalties on US trade. The ruling came a year after the organisation made the same decision in favour of the US, allowing it to impose penalties on EU goods worth up to $7.5 billion.

The clash over aircraft between the EU and the US - the longest in WTO's history - began in 2004 when Washington called out the 27-nation bloc over state aid packages given to Airbus. The EU in response accused the US of providing subsidies to Boeing and filed complaints with the WTO.

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