WTO’s Appellate Body Issues Its Report In The Airbus Compliance Proceeding
Manuel Sánchez Miranda

On May 15, 2018, the Appellate Body circulated its report in a compliance proceeding under Article 21.5 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding, addressing whether the EU eliminated subsidies on civil aircraft that were previously found to be inconsistent with the Subsidies Agreement. The Appellate Body issued a "mixed" ruling. On one hand, it found that the EU had come into compliance with the Appellate Body’s prior rulings on the effects of subsidies affecting single aisle aircraft, such as Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320 models. According to the Appellate Body, the subsidies expired before the compliance deadline of December 1, 2011, which meant that the EU could no longer "withdraw" them or "remove" their effects. As a result, the dispute with respect to these subsidies is finished.

On the other hand, the Appellate Body upheld the 21.5 panel’s finding that the EU failed to remove the lingering effects of subsidies the EU provided Airbus to support the launch of its A380 and A350XWB models. In the view of the Appellate Body, the subsidies continued to have significant adverse effects on Boeing in the twin-aisle and "very-large-aircraft" markets. With respect to this group of subsidies, the United States has the option to seek trade sanctions against the EU. Before the United States can do so, however, an arbitration panel would need to decide on the level of trade concessions it can withdraw.

The WTO is still expected to issue its ruling under Article 21.5 in the parallel case brought by the EU against the subsidies allegedly provided by the United States to Boeing. The parallel proceeding deals with the WTO consistency of subsidies granted by the State of Washington to Airbus in connection with its 787 and 777X models. If the decision in this proceeding is unfavorable to the United States, it would affect the ability of the United States to impose sanctions against the EU in the Airbus dispute.

Senate Works To Build Support For U.S./U.K. Trade Agreement
Barbara Medrado

On May 22, U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Chris Coons (D-DE) announced they were launching the Senate UK Trade Caucus, which is a bi-partisan group of Senators whose goal is to build Congressional support for a bilateral trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom. In the wake of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union in June 2016, there has been interest on both sides of the Atlantic in pursuing a trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom. The Caucus is the first unified effort in Congress to push for a trade agreement between the two countries.