Plane maker Airbus welcomes US-EU ‘armistice’ agreement

“Anything that levels the playing field in the industry and avoids a nasty tariff confrontation where neither side wins is good news,” Airbus Chief Commercial Officer said.

Airbus logo at the factory in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo: AFP/VNA) European aircraft maker Airbus has welcomed a truce between the European Union (EU) and the US to ease transatlantic trade tensions over government subsidies for the two manufacturers. airplane export Boeing and Airbus . Speaking at a press conference on June 15, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer said: “From an Airbus perspective, we warmly welcome that agreement.” Mr. Scherer stressed that anything that levels the playing field in this highly competitive industry and avoids a nasty tariff confrontation where neither side wins is good news. Earlier, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that the EU and the US had come to an agreement to suspend retaliatory tariffs related to the dispute over subsidies for two aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing in the past 5 years. year. Ms. Katherine Tai said Washington could re-impose punitive taxes if US companies cannot “ fair competition ” with European companies. This agreement is said to mark a diplomatic victory in the US President’s trip Joe Biden to Brussels. In March, the EU and the US also agreed to suspend for four months the imposition of retaliatory tariffs related to subsidies to Airbus and Boeing. The suspension will last until July 10, with tariffs re-imposed on July 11, if no solution is reached. Due to a trade dispute over government subsidies for two of the world’s top rival aircraft manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing, EU and US continuously roll out tariffs to punish each other. In March 2018, then US President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tax on imported steel products and 10% on aluminum imported from the EU, Canada and Mexico. In response, the EU approved regulations to impose tariffs on $3.2 billion in US goods, including a 25% tax on American whiskey. In addition to the Airbus-Boeing issue, the two sides are currently arguing over France, Spain and some EU countries imposing digital taxes on major US technology firms.