For many years there has been a dispute between the European Union and the United States of America over aircraft. They accuse each other of illegal subsidies for Airbus and Boeing. Now a WTO arbitration tribunal allows the EU to impose punitive tariffs on Boeing products.

The Airbus case was already decided in 2018 and the WTO arbitrators found that the practice complained of had not been discontinued. The US has been granted punitive tariffs of US $ 7,5 billion. These were quickly introduced for various EU products. Conversely, the WTO arbitration tribunal also found that Boeing's practice had not been discontinued. As a result, the EU has now also been awarded punitive tariffs on US products. It is now about 8,6 billion US dollars annually.

According to the WTO, the mutual punitive tariffs may be levied until the subsidies in question are discontinued. The US claims that Boeing will no longer receive government funding, but this will require a new assessment by the arbitration board. In an initial reaction, Boeing is quite disappointed that the competitor wants to continue to enforce punitive tariffs. Airbus, on the other hand, hopes that a solution that is fair to both sides can be reached at the negotiating table.