Boeing/Airbus update

It looks like the Bush administration has reached the same conclusions as danieldrezner.com about the cost of taking the Boeing/Airbus dispute to the World Trade Organization. Edward Alden reports on the U.S. decision in the Financial Times: The US will offer an olive branch to Peter Mandelson, the European Union’s new trade commissioner, next week ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

It looks like the Bush administration has reached the same conclusions as danieldrezner.com about the cost of taking the Boeing/Airbus dispute to the World Trade Organization. Edward Alden reports on the U.S. decision in the Financial Times:

It looks like the Bush administration has reached the same conclusions as danieldrezner.com about the cost of taking the Boeing/Airbus dispute to the World Trade Organization. Edward Alden reports on the U.S. decision in the Financial Times:

The US will offer an olive branch to Peter Mandelson, the European Union’s new trade commissioner, next week by delaying any escalation of the dispute over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing, a US trade official said on Thursday. The move means Washington will wait until early next year before deciding whether to seek formal settlement of the dispute before a World Trade Organisation panel. Robert Zoellick, the US trade representative, and Mr Mandelson are set to meet for the first time on Monday in Paris. Mr Zoellick is attending a conference in France before travelling to Africa…. “While no one should doubt our resolve to press ahead with this case, we want to give the new trade commissioner time to review the issue,” the US official said. Washington’s decision may fuel speculation in Brussels that the US no longer intends to push the issue now that the November presidential elections are safely behind. EU officials have charged that the case was politically motivated.

As the story suggests, this could heat up again early next year. But it’s good to see the administration attempt another bilateral accomodation.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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