WTO Lowers Boom on Boeing – WSJ.com.
It was just a matter of time –
The WTO has now found that both Boeing and Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., received illegal aid. A negotiated settlement between the U.S. and European Union now seems almost certain, but it remains unclear how that process will play out.
In trade disputes, the WTO’s only prescription is to eliminate subsidies still having an effect. It’s up to the losing government to define its compliance in a proposal agreed to by the winner.
The amounts involved are so massive, in the tens of billions of dollars, that returning the money to governments is unthinkable.