• Analysis
US-EU Trade Truce at Risk Over $3.4 Billion Airbus Loan, Greer Warns
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer warned on Monday that a $3.4 billion European Investment Bank loan to Airbus could jeopardise the US-EU trade truce, saying his office had received no details about the June financing.
No Details, Urgent Resolution Sought
Jamieson Greer, the US Trade Representative, said on Monday that a $3.4 billion loan from the European Investment Bank to Airbus could put the US-EU trade truce at risk. He said his office had been told nothing about the financing, announced in June, and pressed for the situation to be resolved as soon as possible.
"I had sincerely hoped that trade-distorting European subsidies to Airbus were a thing of the past," Greer said in a statement.
He added that the affair weighs on commerce between the two blocs: "This situation injects substantial uncertainty into transatlantic trade in the aerospace sector."
The Loan Behind the Warning
In June, the European Investment Bank approved a record three billion euros - $3.4 billion - in financing for Airbus research and development.
EIB vice president Ambroise Fayolle described the scale of the package: "This new financing -- unprecedented in the EIB's history -- aims to provide Airbus with not only the capacity but also the flexibility."
Two Decades of Dispute
The loan lands in a long-running quarrel between Washington and Brussels over aircraft subsidies:
- •The United States and EU have disputed alleged unfair trade practices since 2004, each accusing the other of supporting firms such as Boeing and Airbus against trade rules.
- •Over 17 years, both sides imposed tariffs on billions of dollars worth of each other's products.
- •In 2021, a five-year truce was agreed under the Biden administration, and tariffs have not been reimposed since.
Greer has urged the EU to have the matter resolved as soon as possible; no EU response is named in the report.
