WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2021) The trade dispute between the United States and European Union on subsidies for aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus as well as on steel and aluminum tariffs are close to potentially being resolved, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said during a congressional hearing on Thursday.
"We are also working to resolve the ongoing Boeing-Airbus dispute, and address the real problem of overcapacity in the steel and aluminum sectors," Tai told the US House Ways and Means Committee on a hearing about the Biden administration's trade policy. "Solutions to both are within reach."
Tai said the Biden administration will work with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and like-minded countries to push for reform of the organization's rules and procedures.
The trade war between the United States and the 27-nation bloc broke out in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump as part of his strategy to impose tariffs to change US trade policy and reduce the trade deficit.
The new duties largely affected a set of steel, aluminum and other European goods, to which the European Union responded with its tariffs on various US items. The tense trade relations between Brussels and Washington are also affected by a long-term subsidy row over the US aircraft maker Boeing and the European Union's Airbus passenger aircraft makers.
Last October, the WTO ruled that the European Union had the right to impose tariffs on $4 billion worth of US goods in response for state subsidies that had been allocated to Boeing.
However, this decision came just over a year after the WTO made a similar ruling in favor of the United States over EU aid given to Airbus. At that time, the WTO said that the United States had the right to impose tariffs on goods worth up to $7.5 billion from the bloc.
