Report: Airbus, Boeing Near End of Prolonged Trade Dispute
The ongoing trade dispute between giant aircraft manufacturers, Europe's Airbus and America's Boeing, could soon end as European Union officials declared on Thursday that all conditions relating to the resolution of the matter have been met.
In a letter addressed to both the United States government and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), EU trade spokesman John Clancy informed concerned authorities that demands embodied in the WTO ruling issued earlier this year have been complied with within the prescribed period.
"Through this package we address all categories of subsidies, all forms of adverse effects, and all models of Airbus aircraft covered by the WTO rulings," Clancy was reported by Reuters as saying in the letter.
In a June decision, the WTO has ordered EU to halt its subsidies assistance, which Boeing claimed amounted to billions of Euros, to Airbus.
Such program, according to U.S. trade officials and Boeing management, amounts to unfair trade practices.
As mandated by trade pacts within the framework of the WTO, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk stressed that the billions of Euros poured by the EU on Airbus violated the principle of a level playing field in the lucrative aerospace industry.
Despite the new development, experts are pessimistic that Airbus and Boeing will finally iron out their differences, with some noting that EU's declaration was bereft of any signals that it would also withhold future aids to Airbus.
Analysts stressed too that opposing parties of the trade spat were vaguely in agreement of the provisions that cover past and future aid extensions though the EU letter has strongly indicated that it expects America, or Boeing, to reciprocate.
That should mean "an equally solid set of compliance actions," as the EU memo explicitly underscored, adding that both EU officials and Airbus management have done their small share of changes stipulated in the WTO ruling.
Kirk, however, pointed out that succeeding moves coming from the American side will hinge on what would materialise in the immediate months ahead.
"We will base our next steps on a careful evaluation of that announcement, and whether it demonstrates that the EU has in fact taken the steps necessary to bring itself into full compliance with the WTO decision," Kirk said in a statement as reported by Reuters.
The realisation of a level playing field, which Boeing said has been absent in the past four decades, is the crucial indicator, according to Kirk.
He reminded that future actions coming from the European side will leave a lasting impact on America's aerospace industry and the lives of hundreds of thousands relying on the sector for their livelihood.