The end is in sight for the Boeing-Airbus dispute

The EU and US are poised to resolve the 17-year dispute between Boeing and Airbus that has seen the governments on both sides of the Atlantic impose as much as $11.5 billion (€9.47 billion) worth of levies on each other and soured the relationship between the two parties.

Diplomats and officials on Monday revealed US President Joe Biden has entered talks with the Commission in a bid to bring an end to the dispute before the EU-US summit on June 15, following on from the G7 summit held between June 11-13.

Read more: US suspends tariffs on UK in Airbus-Boeing dispute

The UK halted its tariffs against the US as part of the dispute in early December, which came into effect once it formally left the EU as there was no guarantee import taxes would be legally binding once it was no longer a member of the bloc.

Similarly, back in March, the US and EU agreed to suspend tariffs on each other, in an act of moderation on Biden's part when compared to his predecessor.

Officials have revealed that the three home countries for Airbus in Europe - Spain, France and Germany - were currently consulting with President Biden regarding an agreement set to be confirmed on Tuesday.

This comes following news that China, through its state-owned venture Commercial Aircraft Corp (Comac) would be attempting to displace the Boeing-Airbus duopoly in the coming years.

The dispute between the transatlantic rivals came to a head in 2019 when then-President Donald Trump gained approval from the World Trade Organisation to levy taxes against the EU.

In all, $7.5 billion (€6.1 billion) worth of goods were to be taxed annually over government subsidies for Airbus back in 2018. However, independent bodies found both the US and EU had broken rules regarding illegal subsidies for their major aerospace rivals.

In October last year, the EU was allowed to bite back, and imposed $4 billion (€3.2 billion) in levies on US imported goods.

Read more: $4bn EU tariffs on US products to come into effect

In 2018, the US also imposed metal tariffs on the EU for "national security reasons."

In October 2020, the US finally extended the EU an olive branch regarding the dispute and offered to suspend all tariffs if Airbus repaid the millions of dollars given in aid by European governments.

This should go some way to mending the relationship between the two parties, although some sore spots still remain, particularly regarding the EU's increasingly aggressive stance on US-based tech giants over supposed market dominance.

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