The Online Newspaper of Lakewood High School

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    US Prepares Tariffs on the EU

    US+Prepares+Tariffs+on+the+EU

    The United States is preparing to impose tariffs on European Union products – airplanes, foods, metals, and clothing. This is due to Washington viewing subsidies that the EU gave to the European plane maker, Airbus, unfair to American plane maker, Boeing. The EU is already preparing its own tariffs in retaliation at the US, with the affected products not having been announced yet.

    On Tuesday, April 9th, President Donald Trump tweeted, “The World Trade Organization finds that the European Union subsidies to Airbus have adversely impacted the United States, which will now put Tariffs on $11 Billion of EU products! The EU has taken advantage of the U.S. on trade for many years. It will soon stop!” These attacks on the EU have occurred as Trump’s administration tries to reach a deal with China over tariffs of $250 billion on Chinese products and goods.

    The subsidy fight between European Airbus and the American planemaker, Boeing, has been going on for years. The US and the EU both have mutual claims of providing unfair financial aid to Boeing and Airbus. The case, which has been making its way through the World Trade Organization for about 15 years, is expected to award both the US and the EU.

    Last May, the World Trade Organization discovered that the EU had illegally given Airbus funding for several of its aircraft models. After this finding, the United States requested the ability to enact $11.2 billion dollars in tariffs in retaliation. The US and the EU are currently waiting for a decision to be made by the World Trade Organization. However, a decision is not expected to be announced until 2020.

    The EU’s retaliatory tariffs are expected to be about $22.6 billion dollars. However, the EU is expected to start negotiations with the US that could potentially remove the tariffs and ease tensions.

    When asked about her opinion on the teriff war, Lakewood High School Junior, Alex Solomon said, “After reading what happened, if the EU did unfairly fund projects that weren’t supposed to have that money, they need to get that money back.”

     

    More to Discover