EU claims US aid to Boeing cost Airbus $27 billion[fr][de] 

"The lavish subsidies benefiting Boeing have allowed Boeing to engage in aggressive pricing of its aircraft which has caused lost sales, lost market share and price suppression to Airbus on a number of select markets," EU officials argued in the first hearing of their case against the US before a WTO trade dispute panel on 26 September. 

According to the EU, the subsidies received by the US planemaker, in the form of tax breaks, development funding and outright grants, were "illegal" and "clearly aimed at weakening Airbus's position and competitiveness". 

The US, which was the first to file a complaint to the international trade body over alleged European subsidies to Airbus of $205bn over the past 30 years, however denies that its government contracts give Boeing an unfair advantage and notes that Airbus has actually increased its market share by 20%, at Boeing's expense, since 2000. 

"The EU's claims are to distract attention from its own massive subsidies," said Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for the US trade representative. 

Airbus and Boeing's global sales are now just about equal, after Airbus, last year, fell behind its US rival on orders for the first time in six years, following a series of production setbacks and management upheavals, which finally led to the announcement, in February 2007, of major restructuring plans threatening 10,000 jobs across Europe (EurActiv 02/03/07). 

The WTO was scheduled to present an interim ruling on the American case against Brussels in October, but this has been delayed because of the complexity of the dispute – the largest ever to go before the WTO. 

A decision on the EU's complaint is not expected until next year. 

In the worst-case scenario, both the EU and the US would win, paving the way for a ferocious round of two-way sanctions that could seriously dent transatlantic trade.