Airbus, Boeing claim victory in WTO ruling
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Both EU aircraft maker Airbus and its U.S. rival Boeing on Monday claimed victory in the decades- long disputes over illegal governmental subsidies on which the World Trade Organization gave a confidential ruling yet to be released publicly.
Before the WTO ruling due to get published in the near future, both sides issued statements claiming the WTO ruling went in favor of their appeal and both continued to accuse the other by displaying a war of words in interpreting the arbiter's closet verdict.
According to France-based Airbus, the European side hailed the confirmation that "Boeing has received massive and illegal government subsidies for many decades, and that they have had a significant and ongoing negative effect on European industry."
Furthermore, Airbus predicted an outline of what WTO would announce in its final ruling. The EU side asserted that "Boeing would not have been able to launch the 787 without illegal subsidies," and Boeing has received illegal financial support of at least 5 billion U.S. dollars and will continue this unfair competition with an additional more than 2 billion U.S. dollars on agenda.
Posting an estimated loss of at least 45 billion U.S. dollars, the Airbus statement expected a WTO ruling that would confirm what Boeing got from the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA "have thoroughly distorted competition within the aviation industry, directly resulting in significant harm to the European aerospace industry."
However, the Boeing company shortly rebutted the EU interpretation that WTO decision will require fundamental changes to the U.S. funding mechanisms.
"Today's decision will not require any change in policy or practice, or other remedy that comes close to approaching the billions of dollars of launch aid that must be repaid by Airbus or restructured on proven commercial terms," the U.S. company said in a statement.
On the contrary, Boeing insisted WTO's Monday decision " rejected almost all of Europe's claims against the United States, including the vast majority of its R&D claims -- except for some 2. 6 billion U.S. dollars." The U.S. side backhanded to attack the 20-billion-U.S. dollar illegal subsidies Airbus and its parent group EADS received from the EU, which was confirmed by the WTO in last June. It thus urged the withdrawal of ongoing financial aid to A380 and A350 operation.
The two sides even discorded on the date of when WTO will deliver its final ruling on the disputes: Boeing said it will come in months, but Airbus anticipated it in weeks.
It's hard to tell yet whether the WTO final ruling can end their disputes for good."We expect the WTO dispute to carry on for several more years and as in all trade conflicts, a resolution will only be reached through negotiations," said Rainer Ohler, Airbus' head of Public Affairs and Communications, in the statement.
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