THE TIMELINE

July 2004: EU authorities claimed Boeing received

$19 billion in unfair subsidies from federal and state
governments between 1989 and 2006.

31 May 2005: US filed a case against EU for providing
illegal subsidies to Airbus.

September 2009: The New York Times and Wall
Street Journal reported that the WTO would likely
rule against Airbus on most, but not all, of Boeing's
complaints


March 2010, the WTO ruled that European
governments unfairly financed Airbus.

September 2010: a preliminary report of the WTO
found unfair Boeing payments broke WTO rules and
should be withdrawn

May 2011: US defense budget and NASA research
grants could not be used as vehicles to subsidize the
civilian aerospace industry and Boeing must repay
$5.3 billion of illegal subsidies.


WTO Appellate Body partly overturned an earlier
ruling that European Government launch aid
constituted unfair subsidy, agreeing that the support
was not aimed at boosting exports

1 December 2011: Airbus reported that it had
fulfilled its obligations under the WTO findings and
called upon Boeing to do likewise in the coming year.




12 March 2012: The appellate body of the WTO released its
findings confirming the illegality of subsidies to Boeing whilst
confirming the legality of repayable loans made to Airbus.


The WTO stated that Boeing had received at least $5.3 billion
in illegal cash subsidies at an estimated cost to Airbus of $45
billion. A further $2 billion in state and local subsidies that
Boeing is set to receive have also been declared illegal.


Boeing and the US government were given six months to
change the way government support for Boeing is handled.





27 September 2012: EU requested WTO to approve EU
countermeasures against USA's subsidy of Boeing.

WTO appeal judges partly upheld EU claims that tax breaks
from Washington state were specific - had cost Airbus sales
by allowing Boeing to drive down prices.

But they rejected EU claims that these subsidies also fell
into the more severe category of illegal export subsidies.

In a parallel case, WTO judges found that Airbus benefited
from aid including illegal export subsidies in the form of
government development loans, also damaging its rival's
sales.


CURRENT SCENARIO
Both the EU and US claimed victory when the WTO ruled
between 2010 and 2012 against billions of dollars of support
for Boeing and European rival Airbus, in a pair of cases
spanning thousands of pages but lacking a final resolution.
EU is considering raising the pressure on the United States
in the world's largest trade dispute by challenging tax breaks
that encouraged plane maker Boeing to keep production of
its latest jet
The potential move would open a tense new phase in the
decade-old formal trade dispute over aircraft industry aid
EU may challenge $8.7 billion U.S. tax breaks in Boeing-
Airbus trade dispute