WTO says EU failed to rein in Airbus subsidies

SEPANG, 15 Sept -- AirAsia menyambut ketibaan pesawat terbarunya yang tiba di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) hari ini iaitu Airbus A320neo, dilengkapi dengan enjin CFM International Leap-1A. A320neo ialah pesawat satu lorong yang juga paling cekap dari segi penggunaan minyak dan paling laris di dunia. -- fotoBERNAMA (2016) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA

GENEVA: The World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Thursday said the European Union had failed to rein in billions of dollars in subsidies to planemaker Airbus, prompting Washington to call for an immediate halt to support that it says hit US jobs.

The ruling is part of a series of tit-for-tat transatlantic complaints about aircraft subsidies that together make up the world’s largest trade dispute, still raging after 12 years of bitter arguments.

The WTO said the EU had failed to comply with earlier rulings by the global trade body against all but two of 36 contested measures, including billions of dollars of European government loans to Airbus stretching back decades.

The loans were a “genuine and substantial” cause of significant lost sales for its competitor Boeing, it said.

In a blow to Europe’s long-held argument that the most recent Airbus jet, the A350, fell outside the case, the WTO said funding for the jet had been subsidised but rejected US claims that it fell into the most serious category of “prohibited” aid. - Reuters