THE EU IS AIRBUS'S PROBLEM, NOT ITS PROP:

Mandelson extends olive branch on subsidies (James Kanter, 9/24/05, International Herald Tribune)

Europe will have to be prepared to curb subsidies to Airbus if a settlement is reached with the United States in the dispute over government aid to the aircraft maker and its chief rival, Boeing, the top European trade negotiator said Friday.

The candid warning from the European Union's trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, to his own side signaled a desire to restart talks with Washington, even as a dueling lawsuits at the World Trade Organization inched forward Friday. [...]

If talks do restart, "then European government funding will have to adapt to the outcome of those negotiations," he added, referring to the millions in development loans provided to Airbus - aid that Washington insists be cut off.

Any settlement is preferable to ceding power to the WTO.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 24, 2005 12:00 AM