Geneva (AFP)

The WTO has authorized Washington, in the Airbus aid dispute, to impose record tariff sanctions on nearly $ 7.5 billion worth of goods and services from the European Union, which immediately threatened to retaliate in the event of a new US tariffs.

This is the heaviest sanction ever granted by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The United States had asked for up to $ 10.56 billion a year.

However, the green light of the WTO does not prejudge the US decision to impose or not these sanctions, in whole or in part, in the form of surcharges on a wide range of European goods and services.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström immediately responded by saying that in case of new US tariffs, "the EU will have no option but to do the same". However, she reiterated her "readiness to reach a fair settlement" with the United States.

In Paris, the French Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire warned that the United States would make "an economic and political mistake" if they decided to impose tariff penalties, and called for an "amicable resolution" "especially" as China strengthens its aerospace industry ".

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury also called for a "negotiated solution" in the 15-year-old conflict between Airbus and Boeing via Brussels and Washington.

In a statement, the US manufacturer Boeing said that "Airbus can still avoid these tariff measures entirely by fully complying with its obligations." "We hope that will finally be the case," he added.

In a mirror proceeding, the WTO is expected in the spring to allow the EU to impose tariffs as well in response to undue subsidies from the US government to Boeing.

Sanctions could be in place by the end of the month, if the US formally applies to the WTO.

Less than a month from Brexit, the UK said in a statement that "it should not be subject" of possible US sanctions against the EU and said it was seeking to obtain WTO confirmation that it was in accordance with WTO rules in the Airbus case.

- Decision to come -

The decision announced Wednesday by the WTO is part of a dispute over aid paid to the European aircraft manufacturer, by France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. The WTO has ruled some of these aids illegal.

Since then, the EU considers that it has brought its aid into line with the rules of international trade, and has obtained from the WTO that a new group of experts is examining the issue. No decision is expected before the end of the year.

The United States, for its part, judged that the EU had not complied and had asked the WTO to set an amount of sanctions.

According to the decision of the WTO Arbitrator on Wednesday, "the United States may (...) ask the Dispute Settlement Body (of the WTO, ed) for permission to take counter-measures. measures in respect of the European Union and some of its Member States, for an amount not exceeding, in total, US $ 7,496.623 million per year "(approximately € 6.8 billion).

The legal battle between Airbus and Boeing at the WTO began 15 years ago when Washington declared a 1992 US-European agreement governing subsidies in the aviation sector obsolete.

The United States fired first in 2004, accusing the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain of granting illegal subsidies to support the production of a series of Airbus products.

A year later, the EU claimed that Boeing had also received billions of dollars in prohibited subsidies from various branches of the US government.

The two cases then became entangled in a legal quagmire, with each party partially successful after a long series of appeals and counter-appeals.

© 2019 AFP