On Wednesday, the 12th of August, 2020, the U.S. government stated that it would maintain a 15% tariff on Airbus aircraft, while a 25% tariff would be imposed on other European goods. The following day, that is, the 12th of August 2020, the European Union’s Commission also released its statement acknowledging the United States’ announcement.
In its acknowledgement, European Union agrees with the United States government while the E.U. also believes that it is crucial to ending the 16-year old dispute over the aircraft subsidies.
The European Union’s executive confirmed that the European Union wanted to negotiate a solution in a bid to end the ongoing aircraft dispute owing to the increased tariffs on European products.
A spokesperson from the European Union Commission further confirmed that resolving the ongoing dispute is the need of the hour as COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the aviation industry along with other hospitality and entertainment sectors.
The worldwide lockdown on a global scale certainly witnessed the shutting of some of the major international airports while most of the international flights were abruptly canceled.
Now that the lockdown is gradually easing, the ban is being gradually lifted, starting with domestic flights, followed by international flights.
The spokesperson also stated that it is the responsibility of both the United States government and the European Union Commission to derive a viable solution to tackle the aircraft subsidy dispute, and quickly. In fact, he asserted that both the parties involved must double the efforts to end the 16- year-old feud whilst ensuring not to exacerbate the issue any further.