U.S. Receives Key Needed for EU Trade Deal

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The World Trade Organization (WTO) earlier this month, levied the largest award settlement in history against the European Union (EU) for failing to remove subsidies for the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus which caused harm to its US rival, Boeing, in the form of lost and impeded sales. The settlement allows the United States to impose countermeasures on EU goods and services to the tune of $7.5 billion annually. Even so, officials from the U.S. say they prefer to find a negotiated outcome that ends all WTO-inconsistent subsidies, an objective it has had from the outset. The EU argues that the amount awarded to the U.S. is inconsistent with WTO rules and could do great harm to the world’s economy. On the other hand, the United States may be using the win to force the EU to include agriculture in a proposed free trade agreement between the two economies. To date, EU negotiators have said they want an FTA with the U.S. but will not consider agriculture as part of the deal. The Trump administration has been very clear that without agriculture included in a deal, there will be no deal.