The U.S. added more European Union products to a list of goods it could hit with retaliatory tariffs in a long-running trans-Atlantic subsidy dispute between Boeing Co. and Airbus SE.
The Trade Representative’s office in Washington on Monday published a list of $4 billion worth of EU goods to target in 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 published in April, according to the release.
The EU has a similar case pending against Boeing and has readied retaliatory tariffs of its own. Though the dispute predates President Donald Trump’s efforts to overhaul America’s big trading relationships, the timing of the latest punitive measures will add to already strained ties between Washington and Brussels.
The airplane subsidy spat and the tariffs both sides are threatening contrast with the Trump administration’s other high-profile trade moves because they’re playing out under WTO rules rather than by unilateral White House authority. Under Trump, the U.S. has called for sweeping changes at the Geneva-based WTO and is currently blocking nominees to its appeals panel — a move that may paralyze the institution’s dispute-settling capacity by year end.
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