WTO: EU failed to end subsidies

The World Trade Organization ruled in favor of Boeing and the U.S. when it ruled Thursday that European governments failed to end billions in unfair state subsidies to Airbus. The ruling moves the U.S. a step closer to being able to impose $5 billion in annual tariffs against goods and services from the European Union. The ruling said the EU and some of its members failed to comply with an earlier ruling to remove the subsidies. But the battle is far from over. The trade body in the near future is expected to find in a parallel case that the U.S. didn't sufficiently address concerns about subsides, including tax breaks, that helped Boeing. That could lead to the EU being able to impose similar tariffs on U.S. exporters. Boeing and Airbus are battling over market share. They have a combined backlog of commercial airplane orders that has risen to almost $1.4 trillion. (Sources: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, CNBC, Seattle Times, 09/22/16 and 09/23/16) Gulf Coast note: Airbus builds A320 series jetliners in Mobile, Ala., as well as Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Tianjin, China.