FILE PHOTO: U.S. and European Union flags are pictured during the visit of Vice President Mike Pence to the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium February 20, 2017. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Trade Organization (WTO) formally authorized the United States on Monday to impose tariffs on up to $7.5 billion of imports of EU goods after an arbitrator’s decision over subsidies to planemaker Airbus (AIR.PA).
The WTO’s dispute settlement body, made up of representatives from its 164 members, cleared Washington to take countermeasures against the European Union and Airbus-producing countries Britain, France, Germany and Spain.
The authorization was a formality after a WTO arbitrator awarded a record right to retaliate over illegal subsidies this month. It would only have been denied if all WTO members present voted against. The meeting lasted less than 20 minutes.
U.S. trade ambassador Dennis Shea told the meeting that Washington still preferred a negotiated solution.
“But that can only happen if the EU genuinely terminates the benefits to Airbus from current subsidies and ensures that subsidies to Airbus cannot be revived under another name or another mechanism,” he told the meeting.
The EU delegation told the meeting that it had “serious concerns” and that U.S. tariff measures were short-sighted.
Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Angus MacSwan