WTO rules EU can apply tariffs on US goods as trade war deepens

Latest ruling could inflame trade tensions from long-standing Boeing-Airbus dispute over subsidies

The EU has been given permission to levy tariffs on US products worth $4bn in retaliation for subsidies given to Boeing, in the latest salvo in a bitter 16-year battle between the US plane maker and its European arch rival, Airbus.

The ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO), delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, could increase trade tensions shortly before the US presidential election on 3 November, although it could also set the stage for tariff negotiations between the EU and the US, which has already imposed levies on European goods in parallel action against Airbus.

Airbus - 1,700 jobs
30 June: The European planemaker announced plans to cut 15,000 jobs, including 1,700 in the UK, as it warned the coronavirus pandemic had triggered the gravest crisis" in its history.