PARIS: Airbus said on Tuesday it had taken steps to comply with a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling on subsidies for its A350 and A380 jets, which has seen the United States and Europe trade legal blows on behalf of Boeing and Airbus.

The move comes days after the United States won a partial victory against European Union support for Airbus at the WTO, clearing the way for possible US sanctions in a 14-year-old dispute over claims of illegal handouts for planemakers.

The EU says it expects to strike a similar legal blow later this year in a parallel WTO case about US support for Boeing, raising the prospect of a tit-for-tat sanctions battle.

The row threatens to exacerbate transatlantic tensions over US aluminium and steel tariffs, and the impact on European firms from Washington’s decision to exit an Iran nuclear pact. But both sides agree any sanctions would not happen before 2019.

In a rare public face-off between key strategists behind the long-running dispute, Boeing’s chief external lawyer in the case told BBC radio that the United States would be free to target any European products, not just aerospace.

“The WTO will decide what the proper number is and ... give the US that authority,” Robert Novick, co-managing partner at US law firm WilmerHale, told the BBC Today programme.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2018