WTO to back U.S. tariffs on Europe in clash over Airbus subsidies

The United States won approval on Wednesday to impose tariffs on $7.5 billion (£6.12 billion) worth of European goods over illegal EU subsidies handed to Airbus, threatening to trigger a tit-for-tat transatlantic trade war as the global economy falters.

The decision by the World Trade Organization pushes a 15-year corporate dispute over illegal support for transatlantic plane giants to the centre of caustic world trade relations and comes on top of a tariff war between Washington and Beijing.

The European Commission said in response that a U.S. move to impose trade sanctions on EU imports would be “short-sighted and counterproductive” and risked causing damage on both sides of the Atlantic.

Read the full story and more in Reuters.