Mandelson hopes for deal as US takes aim at Airbus

European Commission trade officials are to meet over the next few days to discuss their response to a US complaint on allegedly illegal subsidies received by the European aircraft company Airbus.

According to a report this week in the specialist trade publication Flight International, the American complaint, filed at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November, lists detailed examples of subsidies received by Airbus for research and infrastructure development.

The office of the US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, claims that Airbus’s aggressive pricing tactics drove American competitors Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas out of the commercial aviation market.

The Commission has yet to finalise a retaliatory case on subsidies received by Boeing, which will be filed at the WTO in the first week of February. The subject was not broached during a visit to Washington this month by Peter Mandelson, the European commissioner for trade.

"We have not abandoned our hopes for a negotiated solution," said a Commission official. "We shall continue with the legal challenge until such time as we have the basis for proper and balanced negotiations."

European Commission trade officials are to meet over the next few days to discuss their response to a US complaint on allegedly illegal subsidies received by the European aircraft company Airbus.