[News] With punitive fees of 4 billion dollars ... Europe punishes America

[HiTLeR]

 

The World Trade Organization has allowed the European Union to impose punitive tariffs on $ 4 billion of US goods and services annually due to Washington's support for Boeing.

And the trade organization, which a year ago allowed Washington to impose sanctions on the European Union for its support of Airbus, considered that the specified amount “is proportional to the degree and nature of the adverse effects that have been identified,” resulting from illegal US support amounts to Boeing, according to the court report.

 

The European Union and the United States trade accusations of providing illegal government aid to their aircraft manufacturers, and both of them have filed lawsuits before the Trade Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization.

 

Last year, the World Trade Organization authorized US sanctions worth $ 7.5 billion on European goods and services.

This was the largest amount of sanctions allowed so far by the World Trade Organization and was a result of European Union assistance to Airbus which was deemed inadequate under international trade regulations.

 

Then Washington imposed punitive duties of 25 percent on European Union products such as wine, cheese and olive oil.

It raised the 10 percent customs duty on Airbus aircraft to 15 percent in March. The European Union has already put together a list of US products it can charge for, from ketchup to auto parts.

Once approved by the World Trade Organization, the European Union could impose new punitive tariffs starting October 27, a week before the US presidential election, while many EU leaders called for the fees to be imposed immediately if Washington did not agree to abolish the tariffs, and few expect them to. Do that.

 

A source in the sector had previously considered that the WTO decision "opens the door for negotiations."

Given the crisis the aviation industry finds itself in and the impact on Airbus and Boeing, the long battle in which tariffs raise aircraft prices does not serve the interests of the European Union or the United States.

 

This is even more the case for Boeing, which is looking to resume sales of its 737 MAX aircraft once flights are allowed to resume.

 

The aircraft has been decommissioned since March 2019 after two fatal accidents that killed 346 people, which also led to the suspension of sales of this model.

 

Any tariffs would make the hundreds of aircraft ordered by European airlines more expensive.