Greer warns EIB Airbus loan puts US EU detente at risk

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he had sincerely hoped that trade distorting European subsidies to Airbus were a thing of the past, in a statement issued on Monday about the status of the US EU deal to pause duties on certain EU imports. Greer said France, Germany and Spain have for decades aggressively supported Airbus, their national champion aircraft manufacturer, to gain an unfair advantage over U.S. aerospace workers and businesses, and that after winning at the WTO and imposing significant U.S. duties on EU imports in response, USTR struck a deal with the EU to pause those duties in exchange for a mutual commitment to provide financing to large civil aircraft producers on market terms.

Greer said that this summer, almost immediately after the EU extended the pause, the European Investment Bank awarded Airbus its largest loan ever, to benefit Airbus projects in France, Germany and Spain, and that despite ongoing requests USTR still has no details about the loan. He said the situation injects substantial uncertainty into transatlantic trade in the aerospace sector and needs to be resolved as soon as possible to ensure market driven production and to avoid violation of the terms of the large civil aircraft deal. The statement announces no new duties or deadline.