UK, US Announce Boeing-Airbus Settlement
The United Kingdom and the U.S. announced an agreement in the Airbus-Boeing dispute in line with the previously announced agreement between the U.S. and the European Union (see 2106150021). In the agreement, both sides will keep 25% tariffs off a variety of products and 10% tariffs off aircraft for at least five years, and will use a working group to hash out any disagreements on whether either government's support for their large aircraft maker is distorting sales. They also will work together to counter Chinese or other countries' distortions, the June 17 statement said.
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"Some economies do not report transparently all domestic subsidies and provide extensive support to their large civil aircraft sector through subsidized equity investment, state lending, and state-directed purchases," they said. "The two sides will share information about such subsidies, and identify points where joint work is needed to clarify the extent of state support, with the goal of establishing the basis for joint or parallel action in the future, including through appropriate multilateral mechanisms. Some economies also do not permit their airlines to make purchases in line with commercial considerations. The two sides will develop information and consider joint action to ensure purchases reflect those that private, market-oriented operators would undertake."
While the agreement covers many imported food and beverages from the U.K., the Distilled Spirits Council complained that because of the continuing Section 232 tariffs on British steel, American whiskeys are still facing a 25% tariff there. "The Toasts Not Tariffs Coalition hopes these important developments will set the stage for the prompt removal of the 25 percent tariffs on American Whiskeys to the UK and EU. Having recently entered the third year of retaliatory tariffs on American Whiskeys to these two key markets, it is critically important for our producers, our farmer suppliers and the hospitality sector across the U.S., EU and UK that we return to the zero-for-zero agreement on trade in distilled spirits," the group said.