EU threatens tariffs on US ketchup and cheese at the expense of Boeing's subsidies

The block released Wednesday a list of US products worth about $ 20 billion that could be targeted against US subsidies granted in the United States. Boeing (BA).

A spokesman for the European Commission said that even if the products on the target list represented $ 20 billion in US exports, any retaliation would affect a smaller sub-category of goods.

The European Union estimated in 2012 that the damage caused by Boeing's subsidies amounted to about $ 12 billion.

If tariffs have political weight, they would have a limited economic impact if they were taxed.

Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, said the measures threatened by the US and the EU would "not undermine the [global] economic prospects of many. "

The fight for aircraft subsidies has been going on for 15 years.

European authorities said in 2004 that Boeing had received $ 19 billion of unfair subsidies from the federal and state governments between 1989 and 2006. The US government had filed a similar complaint that year for grants awarded. at Airbus.

The World Trade Organization has ruled in favor of both parties, highlighting the complexity of the dispute.

Officials from both sides pointed out that the fight against aircraft subsidies was not related to any other trade disputes. But the threats come at a particularly sensitive time for the transatlantic trade.

Any negotiation would come up against an immediate hurdle: the European Union said that agriculture would not be on the agenda, while the United States insisted that it had to be part of the discussions.

Trade relations between the two parties are worth more than $ 1 trillion a year, but Europe exports many more goods to the United States than the other way around.

This has been a difficult point for President Donald Trump, who is still studying the possibility of imposing tariffs of up to 25% on imports of European vehicles.

The United States has already imposed tariffs on European exports of steel and aluminum.

The European Union has fought back with tariffs on more than $ 3 billion in US exports in June. The levies hit products such as motorcycles, orange juice, bourbon, peanut butter, cigarettes and denim.