The intense war over aircraft subsidies between the US and Europe has continued until now, and the conflict has broken out once again. On the evening of February 14, local time, the Office of the United States Trade Representative issued a statement saying that the tax rate for large passenger agencies exported from the European Union to the US will be raised from 10% to 15%. This decision will take effect from March 18. Furthermore, tariffs on other EU goods will remain at 25%, but the list of taxable goods will be slightly adjusted, including the removal of individual products from the list.

The US statement was tantamount to outrage. On the 15th, Airbus issued a statement saying it was deeply regretful and said that the decision would increase trade tension between the US and Europe. “The decisions of the Office of the United States Trade Representative ignored the opinions of American Airlines, which underscored the fact that additional tariffs would ultimately have to be made byAmerican AirlinesThe company and passengers pay for it.” While persuading, while not forgetting the threat, Airbus said that the WTO may authorize the EU between May and June of this year to deal with those including 737MAX, 787, and 777Boeing(340.49, -2.33, -0.68%) When tariffs are imposed on airliners, it is hoped that the position of the Office of the United States Trade Representative will change.

But the US probably won't buy it for this. In the statement, the Office of the United States Trade Representative also said that the US is open to resolving disputes through negotiations, but warns the EU not to impose tariffs on its own. According to Reuters, EU officials have indicated that they want to start negotiations with the US, but they will not give in to US bullying.

This is a continuation of the 10-year war on aircraft subsidies between the US and Europe. In October of last year, the US side imposed tariffs on a total of 7.5 billion US dollars of EU products in accordance with the WTO ruling, of which 10% was imposed on large airliners and 25% on some agricultural products. In December, the US side determined that there had been no improvement in the elimination of subsidies on the EU side, and plans to impose further tariffs.

Boeing has yet to come out of the haze, which is a good time for Airbus to develop vigorously. According to information released by Facebook, in January 2020, this aircraft manufacturing giant from the US did not receive any new aircraft orders. This is the first time since 1962 that the company has received nothing in January; furthermore, Boeing only delivered 13 aircraft to customers in January. Last year, after removing the cancelled orders, Boeing received orders for a total of 45 aircraft and delivered 46 aircraft.

Meanwhile, the financial report released by Airbus on the 13th showed that thanks to increased commercial aircraft deliveries and a mixed corporate development strategy, Airbus achieved revenue of about 70.5 billion euros last year, an increase of about 11% over the previous year. However, since Airbus agreed to pay 3.6 billion euros in fines to many governments to seek an end to its bribery investigations that have continued for many years, the company's profits were affected, and its net loss in 2019 reached 1.36 billion euros.

Currently, this is not the only point of conflict between the US and the EU. Germany's “Focus” weekly stated bluntly that as the US election approaches, the EU is already in the “bullseye” of Trump's trade war. The digital tax is America's best excuse. On the 12th local time, Google (1520.74, 6.08, 0.40%) filed an appeal with the Second European High Court, seeking to overturn the first of the EU's three huge antitrust fines. Previously, in 3 separate cases, the European Union opposedGoogleSky-high fines totaling 8.25 billion euros have been issued.

The digital tax is not just affecting Google,apples(324.95, 0.08, 0.02%),Amazons(2134.87, -15.00, -0.70%) andFacebook(214.18, 1.04, 0.49%) and other US internet giants will all be affected. “Now is the time for serious negotiations with the EU.” In Trump's view, the EU has set up “unbelievable” barriers to US goods. Fortunately, in January of this year, the US reached an agreement with France. France will not levy a digital services tax until the end of this year, while the US has agreed not to impose retaliatory tariffs on the latter during this period.

Regarding the tariff dispute between the US and Europe, Sun Jie, a researcher at the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in fact, the transformation of Sino-US relations between the US and Europe is not the same. There have always been trade conflicts between the US and Europe, and none of them have gone from less obvious to obvious; second, there is TTIP between the US and Europe. Although discussions have not yet been fully completed, the two sides actually compete and cooperate in this context.