The file, 15 years old, European subsidies to Airbus came back in the news, Wednesday, October 2. After receiving the green light from the World Trade Organization (WTO), to apply tariffs on $ 7.5 billion in imports from the European Union (EU), Washington immediately reacted to this.

The United States will impose from October 18 tariffs of 10% on aircraft and 25% on other industrial and agricultural products imported from the European Union (EU), including French wine, cheese Italian or Scottish whiskey, according to a list published by the US Trade Representative Services (USTR).

Olives from France, Germany and Spain, pork sausages produced throughout the EU, German coffee, woolen clothes made in the UK are also among the goods targeted by the US administration. . Italian wine is spared.

Aeronautical taxes will not apply to spare parts. This will allow Airbus to continue producing at the same cost in its Alabama plant but will also benefit Boeing, which uses European spare parts.

France among the most targeted

Most of the sanctions will be applied to imports from France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, "the four countries behind the illegal subsidies" granted to the European aircraft manufacturer. said the USTR, showering London's hopes of being spared from the Brexit perspective. "We hope to start negotiations with the European Union to resolve this conflict for the benefit of American workers," commented Robert Lighthizer, USTR.

Even before the US decision, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that in case of new US tariffs, "the EU will have no option but to do the same thing". However, she reiterated her "readiness to find a fair settlement".

But Donald Trump, who wants to pull out a bilateral agreement to gain greater access to the European market, must decide by November 13 to impose or not additional tariffs on cars imported from the EU, a threat particularly feared by Berlin.

"Great victory for the United States"

Delta Air Lines, an American Airbus customer, lamented the sanctions, saying that tariffs would "cause serious harm to US airlines, to the millions of Americans they employ and to travelers."

Wednesday, after 15 years of legal battle, the World Trade Organization had authorized Washington to impose record sanctions, saying that the European aircraft manufacturer had benefited from undue subsidies. A decision called "great victory for the United States" by Donald Trump.

In Paris, the French Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire had him that the United States would make "an economic and political mistake" if they decided to impose tariff penalties, and called for a "resolution to the amicable ", 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 through their states. 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.

Mirror procedure

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.

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 entered a legal quagmire, with each party partially successful after a long series of appeals and counter-appeals.

With AFP and Reuters