Saturday, April 27, 2024
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
Following a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said on May 11 that the EU is ready to "immediately" negotiate a settlement of a bilateral dispute with the United States over subsidies for the development of large civil aircraft by Airbus and Boeing -- provided there are no preconditions, Inside U.S. Trade's World Trade Online reports this week.
In a press roundtable, De Gucht said the negotiations could start now but would not provide a specific timetable. “We'll have to see in the coming weeks,” he said.
The Air Force's KC-X airborne refueling tanker competition has been caught up in this transatlantic dispute, with the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. competing against Boeing for the multibillion-dollar contract. During his roundtable this week:
De Gucht gave no signal at the press roundtable that EU member states will provide launch aid for the Airbus A350 plane, but other sources said that the decision could be imminent and could be made even before the U.S. Air Force decides on the award of a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract, on which both Boeing and Airbus parent company European Aeronautical Defense and Space (EADS) are bidding.
EADS opponents in Congress have tried to use the subsidies issue to pressure the Air Force not to award the contract to EADS. This week, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) will introduce a bill that would force the Air Force to consider the WTO subsidy ruling in the Airbus case in the tanker decision and Boeing has been lobbying heavily for the bill.
De Gucht said he did not discuss the tanker contract in his separate meetings with Kirk and Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economic Affairs Michael Froman.
Spain, the United Kingdom, France and Germany have pledged about $4 billion in launch aid for the A350, but the details have been under negotiation since the middle of 2009. Observers believe that the royalty-based financing is being tailored to comply with the findings in the WTO cases against previous Airbus funding.