Brussels (AFP)

The EU and the United States will announce Tuesday a five-year suspension of their customs duties decided in early March to resolve their old dispute over illegal subsidies granted to aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, according to European sources.

"We have an agreement to take the time to reach a long-term solution. Meanwhile the sanctions will be suspended," a European source told AFP.

"It's a good agreement, a long truce" in this conflict, said a second source familiar with the discussions taking place within the framework of the EU / US summit in Brussels.

Another European official said the extension was for five years, a comfortable period to seal a final agreement in this 17-year-old dispute.

"I am very confident that we will find an agreement today on the Airbus-Boeing dossier during discussions with our American friends," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a conference on Tuesday. press release with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Washington and Brussels had decided in early March to suspend for a period of four months until July 11 the customs duties they inflict on themselves in this dispute between the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and its American rival Boeing.

This announcement was greeted with relief, especially in France where the 25% surtax imposed in October 2019 by the United States, the leading market for French wines, cost the industry 500 million euros in 2020. The tax had was then extended to cognac and armagnac by Donald Trump in January 2021, just before leaving the White House.

The European Union and the United States have been clashing since October 2004 before the World Trade Organization (WTO) over public aid paid to the two groups, deemed illegal.

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Under the Trump administration, Washington was authorized in October 2019 to impose taxes on nearly 7.5 billion dollars (6.8 billion euros) of European goods and services imported each year, up to 25% for wines and spirits, and 15% for Airbus aircraft.

In a mirror decision a year later, the WTO authorized Brussels to impose taxes on products imported from the United States.

The EU has since imposed tariffs on $ 4 billion in US exports.

The Biden administration had assured on May 14 that it was doing everything possible to find an agreement on this dispute by July.

"I have a lot of hope and we will do everything in our power to make sure we meet the target during this four month period," Trade Representative Katherine Tai said.

Present in Brussels, she has participated in the last few hours in long negotiations with the European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis.

Under the Trump administration, the United States had embarked on all-out tariff wars, and in particular with Brussels.

The trend is now towards appeasement and dialogue with the EU that Washington hopes to rally in its iron brazier with China.

© 2021 AFP