WASHINGTON, July 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The U.S. added more products from the European Union to a list of goods it could hit with retaliatory tariffs in a long-running trans-Atlantic subsidy dispute between Boeing Co. and Airbus SE.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office published a list of $4 billion worth of EU goods the U.S. could hit with duties as retaliation for European aircraft subsides.
The products range from cherries to meat, cheese, olives and pasta, along with some types of whiskey and cast-iron tubes and pipes, adding to a list of EU products valued at $21 billion that the USTR published in April.
The latest targets were identified following a two-day hearing in Washington in May when 40 stakeholders made their cases about the countermeasures. The USTR said a public hearing on the proposed additional $4 billion worth of products will be held Aug. 5.
The USTR estimates the EU subsidies to Airbus cause approximately $11 billion in economic harm to the U.S. annually.
The World Trade Organization has found the EU subsidies violate international trade rules and it’s expected to decide this summer on the amount of countermeasures the U.S. can impose.
The EU has its own pending WTO case against Boeing. The EU in April published its preliminary list of U.S. goods being targeted in a $12 billion plan for retaliatory tariffs over subsidies to Boeing, with a focus on farm products from areas that help form President Donald Trump’s political base. — NNN-AGENCIES
