WTO arbitrators to consider US request for sanctions in Airbus case

WTO arbitrators will evaluate a US request to impose billions of dollars worth of sanctions on European products after a final WTO ruling that found the EU had given illegal subsidies to Airbus. The request for retaliation for losses incurred by rival Boeing in the long-running dispute over claims of illegal handouts for aircraft makers adds fuel to mounting transatlantic trade tensions. It comes as EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said in Brussels that she hoped an EU mission to Washington would help ease a trade dispute linked to steel and aluminium but that the bloc is preparing a list of US imports to hit if the US imposes tariffs on EU cars. The US made the request to the WTO last Friday for three judges to set the level of retaliatory sanctions, the global watchdog said in a document posted on Thursday. The WTO arbitration is expected to take around a year.<br/>