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GENEVA, Mar 15 (AFP): The European Union and United States jousted at the World Trade Organisation yesterday, as Brussels demanded that Washington provide more details of aid for Boeing.
The two trading powers are locked in a long-running dispute over what each side claims are illegal subsidies for the other's aircraft industry. Washington has EU support for Airbus in its sights.
"We regret that the US persists in denying access to information the EU is entitled to under WTO rules," an EU trade diplomat told a meeting of the WTO's dispute settlement body, according to officials.
Tuesday's tussle centred on the complex "Annex 5" regulations of the WTO, whose 149 trading nation members set the rules of global commerce.
Under that accord, governments whose aid payouts are in the spotlight are meant to provide information about them to other WTO members who have contested the support before the organisation's dispute settlement body.
The EU challenged aid to Boeing from several US states and local authorities, and has also demanded more details on aid by NASA and the Pentagon.
The US complaint targets support for Airbus from the governments of four European countries: Britain, France, Germany and Spain.
Washington and Brussels took their cases to the WTO after failing to find common ground in direct talks.
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