WTO: Boeing got unfair US tax break, hurting Airbus
GENEVA — Delivering final word in a nearly 14-year standoff, a World Trade Organization body has ruled that Boeing received an illegal U.S. tax break from Washington state that damaged sales by European archrival Airbus.
The decision by the WTO’s appellate body considered whether the United States had complied with a 2012 ruling that found that plane-maker and defense company Boeing received at least $5 billion in subsidies prohibited under international trade rules.
But the ruling was limited. Except for the relatively small Washington state tax program — which the U.S. says was worth just $100 million a year — Thursday’s decision found no grounds upon which the European bloc could seek damages from an arbitrator.
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The U.S. Trade Representative’s office — just like Airbus — called the decision “a major win” and noted that the only victory by the European Union was over a Washington state tax measure worth an average annual value of only around $100 million from 2013-2015.
The U.S. won another victory last year in the long Boeing-Airbus conflict. A WTO panel found last May that the EU continued to provide illegal subsidies to Airbus.
“For years, European governments have provided massive subsidies to Airbus that dwarf any U.S. subsidies to Boeing,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement Thursday. “This report confirms what every other WTO report on these issues has found: the United States does not provide support even remotely comparable to the exceptionally large and harmful EU subsidies to Airbus.”
https://www.heraldnet.com/business/trade-panel-boeing-got-unfair-us-tax-breaks-hurting-airbus/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=b27e0e79d5-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-b27e0e79d5-228635337
Looks like both companies get tax breaks from their respective municipalities.
= new reply since forum marked as read
So, we got away without anybody noticing that Boeing was selling killer planes that had passed "federal" inspections - inspections done by the guys from Boeing that did inspections between cleaning hanger 12 and 14 (no, they don't have a hanger "13" - what do you think, they want to bring bad luck on anything that they build?).
After IQ45's latest efforts on "America First" tariff programs, I'm sure the WTO is saving a reserved seat for the USA for the coming few years!
