The World Trade Organization (WTO) any day now plans to issue an interim ruling on U.S. allegations over unfair subsidies made by European governments to Airbus. It remains unclear whether or not it will officially make public the content of the ruling, but the long-awaited case approaches its climax just as the governments prepare a new package of some $5 billion in state-backed loans to fund the development of the European airframer’s new A350 airliner. The governments of France, Germany, the UK and Spain have made it abundantly clear that they will not halt their practice of backing Airbus programs with refundable cash advances and loans.
On August 15, Lord Mandelson, Britain’s Secretary of State for Business, provocatively announced a £340 million ($550 million) guarantee and took the opportunity to accuse the U.S. of hypocrisy over subsidy allegations. In his previous job as the European Union’s trade commissioner, Mandelson took a similarly belligerent line in supporting a counter-claim alleging U.S. subsidies for Boeing, and the WTO plans to rule on that case before the end of this year.
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