A quiet Labor Day announcement contains good news for Washington’s aerospace industry, the Boeing company, and the state and national economy. Here’s how The Boeing Company reported the announcement:
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) achieved a significant victory today in its long-running dispute with the European Union over aerospace subsidies.
The WTO Appellate Body announced a reversal of last November’s prohibited subsidy ruling against a tax incentive for the production of the Boeing 777X in Washington state. It also upheld an earlier dismissal of the EU’s claims against the remainder of the incentives. Today’s ruling confirms that the tax treatment Boeing (NYSE: BA) and others are receiving in Washington state is not a prohibited subsidy.
The announcement confirms a prediction Boeing made last November.
CNBC reports on the WTO ruling:
Monday’s ruling, which is final, found that none of the tax incentives provided by Washington state were illegal. The decision now goes to the WTO’s dispute settlement body for formal adoption within 20 days.
“The WTO has rejected yet another of the baseless claims the EU has made as it attempts to divert attention from the $22 billion of subsidies European governments have provided to Airbus and that the WTO has found to be illegal,” Boeing general counsel Michael Luttig said in a statement.
As we have previously written, the aerospace incentives have provided significant benefits to the Washington state economy.
The WTO ruling is indeed good news.
