Fiji Times Wednesday 06 September 2017 PARIS/GENEVA – The World Trade Organization has reversed a ruling that Boeing received prohibited support for its newest aircraft, dealing a blow to the European Union in its long-running row with the United States over subsidies.
Monday’s decision by WTO appeal judges overturns a ruling which had banned some Washington-state support for plants including a $US1 billion ($F2b) factory designed to build the world’s largest carbon-composite wings for Boeing’s 777X jet.
A WTO panel ruled last year that a reduction in the state’s business and occupation tax in return for a decision to place 777X production in the state had deliberately shut out imports.
But its appeals body found the tax breaks had not explicitly targeted trade flows, removing them from the WTO’s most severe category of banned aid known as “prohibited” subsidies.
The decision neutralises a potential trump card, which the EU played in 2014 to shake up the world’s biggest trade dispute. Read more…
