Technology & Innovation — September 18, 2010

Boeing’s Illegal Government Aid

“The World Trade Organization has found that much of the $22 billion benefit Boeing enjoyed from tax breaks and defence and research contracts was also an illegal subsidy.”

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“Airbus, Europe’s aircraft-making champion, has long had its nose in the subsidy trough. This week the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruled that Boeing, its American rival, is also a guzzler of illegal handouts. More precisely, the WTO gave an interim verdict on a claim by the European Union and Airbus that Boeing received subsidies, mainly channelled through the Department of Defence and NASA, that violate global trading rules. Not long ago, it was Airbus that was strapped to a seat in cattle class and being pelted with airline food. … This time Airbus is jubilant. A European source said ‘we could not have hoped for more.'”

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