Biden trade czar Tai 'optimistic' US-EU airline subsidies spat may end soon

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she is optimistic that the United States and Europe can settle a longstanding dispute over aircraft subsidies, leaving them free to focus on larger issues, including China’s nascent aircraft industry. Tai, who is working to reset trade ties with allies across the world after former President Donald Trump’s tariff wars, declined to give any details about her talks with the European Union and Britain on the dispute, but struck an upbeat tone. “It’s impossible to predict the organic development of any negotiation. But I want to underscore how optimistic I am,” Tai told Reuters in an interview late Wednesday. “We are giving it everything we’ve got. I also feel confident that that is being reciprocated across the table.” The European Union’s trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis last week said Brussels and Washington were working to resolve the dispute over subsidies to aircraft makers by July 10. Both sides agreed in March to suspend tariffs on billions of dollars of imports in a 16-year-old dispute at the World Trade Organization over subsidies for planemakers Airbus and Boeing. The suspension runs until July 10, with tariffs re-applying on July 11 if there is no solution Asked how close the two sides were, Tai said simply, “fingers crossed.”<br/>