EU bets on Biden to resolve aircraft subsidy row

The EU will seek a swift resolution of a 16-year battle over aircraft subsidies with incoming US president Joe Biden, saying that new US tariffs have damaged talks with the Trump administration. The Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the 27-nation European Union, said on Thursday that the US action had "unilaterally" disrupted ongoing negotiations about respective state subsidies for European planemaker Airbus and its US rival Boeing. "The EU will engage with the new US administration at the earliest possible moment to continue these negotiations and find a lasting solution to the dispute," it said. The office of the US Trade Representative said Wednesday it was adding aircraft components such as fuselages and wings, and wines and brandy from France and Germany onto a list of goods subject to tariffs, responding to what it said was unfair EU retaliation. Both Washington and Brussels have won cases at the WTO, the former allowed to impose tariffs on US$7.5b of EU goods and the latter extra duties on US$4b of imports from the US.<br/>