Top > Business > 2005 > October > 2005-10-09

E.U. delays Airbus aid

The ongoing trade dispute between the United States and European Union over subsidies granted to rival companies Boeing in the U.S. and Airbus in the E.U. took a new twist last week when the governments of Britain, France, Spain and Germany stated that they would postpone aid for development of Airbus projects by 15 months, but the U.S. still wasn`t satisfied.

The U.S. said that the multi-nation proposal was "another step in the wrong direction". The U.S. is against the government support of Airbus at any level, and officials said that the E.U. proposal merely postponed the inevitable granting of aid to Airbus to develop the A350 aircraft, which is in fierce competition with U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing and its new planned 787 aircraft design.

The United States has already gone to the World Trade Organization with their complaints, for the U.S. wants direct European government subsidies to Airbus to be declared illegal. In response, the E.U. countersued at the WTO. The E.U. had hoped the British-French-Spanish-German proposal would enable a long delay in which the two sides would be able to reach an agreement, the U.S. has stated its intention to continue the suit against the E.U. anyway.