The U.S. added new products from the European Union to potentially target with retaliatory tariffs in a long-running trans-Atlantic subsidy dispute between Boeing Co. and Airbus SE.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office on Monday published a list of $4 billion worth of EU goods they could hit with duties as retaliation for European aircraft subsides. The products range from cherries to meat, cheese, olives and pasta, along with some types of whiskey and cast-iron tubes and pipes. It adds to a list of EU products valued at $21 billion that the USTR released in April, according to the release.
The latest targets were identified following a two-day hearing in Washington in May when stakeholders made their cases about the countermeasures.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative estimates the EU subsidies to Airbus cause approximately $11 billion in economic harm to the U.S. annually. The World Trade Organization has found the EU subsidies violate international trade rules and it’s expected to decide this summer on the amount of countermeasures the U.S. can impose.
The imposition of the proposed tariffs would threaten to further strain ties as the U.S. and EU try to sit down to negotiate a trade deal.
The EU has its own pending WTO case against Boeing. The EU in April published its preliminary list of U.S. goods being targeted in a $12 billion plan for retaliatory tariffs over subsidies to Boeing, with a focus on farm products from areas that help form President Donald Trump’s political base. Other items in the wide-ranging target list included ketchup, nuts, video game consoles and bicycle pedals.
