The WTO delivered a crucial report on Monday on the long--running EU-US battle over subsidies to Boeing and Airbus that the European aircraft maker said vindicated the EU complaint.
However, Boeing quickly rejected that conclusion, saying the report was a “sweeping rejection” of the European allegations of illegal subsidies.
The WTO provided its confidential report dealing with Airbus’s charges against Boeing to the US and EU governments. Under WTO rules, the report is supposed to remain private until its public release, but both Airbus and Boeing, as well as the EU, were quick to claim victory in the seven-year dispute over multibillion-dollar subsidies.
“We welcome the WTO panel’s confirmation of its initial findings regarding the support provided to Boeing by the US government,” EU trade spokesman John Clancy said in a statement.
“This solid report sheds further light on the negative consequences for the EU industry of these US subsidies and provides a timely element of balance in this long-running dispute,” he added.
The US criticized the EU for commenting on the report and said it would provide its own “detailed views” on the report when it is publicly released.
“Under WTO rules, the report remains confidential until it is translated and released to all WTO members,” Nefeterius McPherson, a spokeswoman for US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, said in an e-mail. “Despite that the EU has publicly commented on the report, at this time we will simply say that the United States is confident that the WTO will confirm the US view that European subsidies to Airbus dwarf any subsidies that the United States provided to Boeing.”
McPherson noted the report would be made public after it has been translated into French and Spanish.
“The WTO has not indicated how long this will take, but given the size and complexity of this report, that process could take two or three months,” she said.
The report is the latest twist in the subsidies war. A WTO ruling in June partially upheld Washington’s parallel complaint against subsidies for Airbus, the France-based aircraft unit of the European Aeronautics Defence and Space Company (EADS).
The Geneva-based trade referee is already hearing an appeal by both sides against the June ruling.
Airbus said the latest WTO report backed its allegations and estimated it has lost at least US$45 billion in sales due to the illegal aid.
“Today’s World Trade Organization decision confirms Boeing has received massive and illegal government subsidies for many decades and they have had a significant and ongoing negative effect on European industry,” Airbus said.
While not giving the details of the ruling, the European -Commission said the probe found that Boeing’s receipt of research and development funding from US government bodies had had “negative consequences” for Airbus.
“Airbus applauds the excellent result achieved by the European Commission and the member states,” said Rainer Ohler, Airbus’ head of public affairs.
“From today, Boeing can no longer pretend that it doesn’t benefit from generous and illegal state subsidies. It has been doing so from the start and it’s time to stop the denial,” he said. “The myth that Boeing doesn’t receive government aid is over and we hope this sets the tone for balanced and productive negotiations going forward.”
Boeing countered that the WTO had issued a “sweeping rejection” of EU claims it had received illegal subsidies.
“Today’s reports confirm the interim news from last September that the WTO rejected almost all of Europe’s claims against the United States, including the vast majority of its R&D [research and development] claims — except for some [US]$2.6 billion,” Boeing said in a statement. “This represents a sweeping rejection of the EU’s claims.”
“Nothing in today’s reports even begins to compare to the [US]$20 billion in illegal subsidies that the WTO found last June that Airbus/EADS has received,” Boeing said.
“The WTO’s decisions confirm that European launch aid stands alone as a massive illegal subsidy only available to Airbus, which has seriously harmed Boeing, distorted competition in the aerospace industry for decades, and resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of good-paying US jobs,” the Chicago-based aerospace and defense giant said.
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
Luxury fashion powerhouse Prada SpA has acknowledged the ancient Indian roots of its new sandal design after the debut of the open-toe footwear sparked a furor among Indian artisans and politicians thousands of miles from the catwalk in Italy. Images from Prada’s fashion show in Milan last weekend showed models wearing leather sandals with a braided design that resembled handmade Kolhapuri slippers with designs dating back to the 12th century. A wave of criticism in the media and from lawmakers followed over the Italian brand’s lack of public acknowledgement of the Indian sandal design, which is named after a city in the
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for