MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2020) Spain has lashed out at the United States for threatening to expand tariffs on EU goods over an ongoing aircraft subsidies dispute between the two.
Earlier in the week, US trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer said Washington was increasing the list of agricultural products in the US market under tariffs, saying the bloc had not done enough to settle the 16-year-long dispute. The row has dragged on since the Bush-era, with Washington and Brussels trading accusations of unfair subsidies to airline manufacturers, US' Boeing and EU's Airbus.
"The Spanish government opposes this decision and hopes to reach an agreement that will change the current dynamics of trade relations between countries in the common economic interest," the ministry said.
Industry, Trade and Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto said that the EU fully complies with the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules in the Airbus case, and believes that "the United States should withdraw its measures and seek a solution to the conflict."
Agriculture Minister Luis Planas said that "the agricultural sector was caught in a commercial conflict unrelated to its activities," and called Washington's stance a "strategic mistake."
Last year, the WTO allowed the United States to impose duties on the import of goods from the EU in the amount of $7.5 billion a year as part of a case for EU subsidies for Airbus. In July, Airbus agreed with the governments of France and Spain to amend the Repayable Initial Investment (RLI) contracts for the A350 aircraft program. Afterward, the European Commission announced that the EU is now fully compliant with the decisions of the WTO on subsidies. The commission then called on the US to remove the sanctions, which would remove the necessity for the EU's reciprocal sanctions.
