WTO Rules U.S. Tax Breaks Illegal; EU to Retaliate (Update4)

[bemildred]

Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union plans to impose new sanctions on as much as $4 billion a year in American goods after the World Trade Organization said the U.S. failed to end illegal tax breaks to exporters such as Boeing Co.

A three-judge panel rejected a U.S. appeal because Congress ignored a WTO order to scrap the tax breaks. The EU challenged the U.S. law because it phases out the 10-year export benefits over 12 months rather than halting them immediately.

``The U.S. has three months to act to avoid the re- imposition of retaliatory measures,'' EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said in a statement from Brussels. ``The EU will not accept a system of tax benefits which give U.S. exporters including Boeing an unfair advantage. We are seeking nothing more than the re-establishment of a level playing field.''

At stake in the eight-year-old spat are annual tax breaks worth billions of dollars to companies including Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker and Caterpillar Inc., the world's biggest manufacturer of earthmoving equipment, as well as Boeing, the main beneficiary of the subsidies.

Bloomberg

[stepnw1f]

1. "level playing field"

That what we are working for... good luck with trying to persuade these Neo-nut jobs.

[Roland99]

2. "Free trade after we give our corporate buddies a break"

What a freakin' joke!

[Vidar]

3. Free trade unless you're a worker or trading partner.

[Deja Q]

4. Microsoft? Definitely cut their bennies.

If for no other reason, they spat on the dollar too.

The unpatriotic don't deserve tax benefits.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

5. K&R If other American industries could afford to buy favor, they

would get breaks as well and the trade deficit would go away?

I am so sick of the way this government views business.

Reverse Robin Hood.