WTO finds against Boeing in victory for Airbus over illegal subsidies

WTO finds against Boeing in victory for Airbus over illegal subsidies
By Robert Hackwill

The WTO has ruled Washington State illegally supported Boeing with tax breaks after complaint filed by Airbus.

The World Trade Organisation has ruled planemaker Boeing benefitted from an illegal tax break, amounting to a subsidy to develop its 777x passenger plane.

The subsidy, amounting to 5.3 billion euros, came from Washington State, where Boeing’s Seattle headquarters is based, and came in the form of a lower state business tax renewed in 2013 when the company was mulling producing the plane elsewhere.

The complaint was brought by the European Commission on Airbus’s behalf, which is also being taken to the WTO by the US acting for Boeing for similar support. The tit-for-tat complaints have been rumbling on for 12 years, and the US is considering sanctions against the EU for earlier rulings against Airbus.

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