Lawmakers want info on EADS subsidies

[unhappycamper]

Lawmakers want info on EADS subsidies
By Bart Jansen - Gannett Washington Bureau
Posted : Sunday May 30, 2010 17:23:16 EDT

Congressional lawmakers want to know as quickly as possible whether a French-based company received subsidies in Europe that give it an unfair advantage in the competition for the Air Force’s $35 billion contract to build refueling tankers.

The World Trade Organization is expected to issue a final decision next month on whether European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., owner of Airbus, benefited from billions in European subsidies to develop the A330 plane. The A330 is the foundation for EADS’ version of the KC-X tanker that it’s competing with Boeing to build for the Defense Department.

EADS would build the planes in Mobile, Ala. The contract for at least 179 tankers would mean hundreds of jobs to the Gulf Coast region.

The House Armed Service Committee agreed May 19 to require the Pentagon, as part of this year’s defense authorization bill, to report on unfair trade practices affecting defense contracts within 60 days of a final decision from the WTO.

Currently, the Pentagon must do that within 100 days after appeals are exhausted from a WTO ruling.