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EU seeks $12 billion/year from US over Boeing case

GENEVA — The European Union is seeking $12 billion per year in sanctions from the United States as part of a long-running dispute involving subsidies to plane makers Airbus and Boeing, the World Trade Organization said on Thursday.

The Geneva-based trade body said the EU plan to request the right to impose the sanctions on Oct. 23. An EU spokesman did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

The action marks the latest salvo in a seven-year dispute between the EU and the U.S. over subsidies to the two plane makers.

Boeing and Airbus are fighting over a market believed to be worth more than $3 trillion over the next decade. And the WTO has found fault on both sides.

In March, a WTO appeals panel upheld an earlier finding that Boeing Inc. received at least $5 billion in subsidies that hurt its European archrival and were prohibited under international trade rules. The amount though was far less than the European Union had alleged in its complaint.

On Monday, the US claimed it had complied with that ruling by stopping some payouts to Boeing through NASA and the Pentagon and by removing some beneficial tax and funding policies.

The EU has rejected those claims.

Still, it has not emerged unscathed from the dispute. A WTO panel has ruled that European governments provided $18 billion in subsidies to Airbus — though not all were deemed illegal.