WTO Appellate Body Overturns Decision on Boeing Subsidies
The World Trade Organization Appellate Body on Sept. 4 published a report overturning a Nov. 28, 2016, WTO dispute panel decision that found Washington state’s reduced business and occupation tax rate for the manufacturing or sale of Boeing 777x commercial airplanes violated WTO rules (see 1611280027). “European governments have provided billions of dollars in illegal subsidies to Airbus for years, yet they have tried and failed to create a false equivalence with the United States and Boeing,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement. “Today’s WTO report further confirms that the EU cannot justify their own illegal subsidies by hiding behind groundless claims against the U.S. The EU should immediately come to the table on a solution that will end all its WTO-inconsistent subsidies.”
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The EU in a statement disagreed with the Appellate Body “assessment of the scheme,” and pointed to its appeal of another ongoing WTO case involving allegedly prohibited Washington state subsidies to Boeing (see 1706300035). The EU in its statement said it is “confident” the WTO Appellate Body will confirm the U.S. must withdraw Washington state tax measures that it believes unfairly benefit Boeing. House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert, R-Wash., praised the Appellate Body’s Sept. 4 decision, and called for the EU to stop its “illegal aid” programs for Airbus. “With this complete rejection of the EU’s claims that the U.S. provides comparable aid, the EU must put an end to its illegal aid programs and begin to play by the rules,” Reichert said in an emailed statement.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of Reichert’s statement.