The World Trade Organisation has ruled planemaker Boeing benefitted from an illegal tax break, amounting to a subsidy to develop its 777x passenger plane.

Open for business! BoeingDefense + BoeingAirplanes team up to build #777X w/ parts made in #STL Composite Center https://t.co/9m5Qq7KBuT pic.twitter.com/tnVC6nhFJJ— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) 13 octobre 2016

The subsidy, amounting to 5.3 billion euros, came from Washington State, where Boeing’s Seattle headquarters is based, and came in the form of a lower state business tax renewed in 2013 when the company was mulling producing the plane elsewhere.

#WTO delivers knockout blow to #Boeing’s record-breaking subsidies with historic ruling https://t.co/UWFat62Yin pic.twitter.com/qJTi2HajdP— Airbus (@Airbus) 28 novembre 2016

The complaint was brought by the European Commission on Airbus’s behalf, which is also being taken to the WTO by the US acting for Boeing for similar support. The tit-for-tat complaints have been rumbling on for 12 years, and the US is considering sanctions against the EU for earlier rulings against Airbus.

Confused about World Trade Organization (#WTO) rulings on aircraft subsidies? This makes it “plane” simple. pic.twitter.com/rs8zVbQqKx— Airbus (@Airbus) 28 novembre 2016