The US Trade Representative’s Office has warned the European Union that continued uncertainty over a record €3 billion ($3.4 billion) European Investment Bank loan to Airbus could threaten the transatlantic agreement on financing large civil aircraft. Jamieson Greer said Washington still lacks the loan’s terms, which support Airbus research and development projects in France, Germany and Spain.
The EIB provided the financing in June, with the package intended to support Airbus’s long-term investment in commercial aviation as well as security and defence. Speculation has linked the funding to research for a future successor to the A320neo family, although Airbus has not confirmed such a programme.
Washington is examining whether the financing qualifies as a subsidy and whether its conditions comply with the 2021 US-EU understanding. That agreement suspended retaliatory tariffs in the long-running Airbus-Boeing dispute and committed both sides to market-based, transparent support for large civil aircraft.
Boeing urged the USTR to seek greater transparency in July. The EIB has characterised the financing as a normal interest-bearing corporate loan, while Airbus has described it as commercially available funding. The United States has not formally determined that the loan breaches the agreement and has announced no new tariffs or other measures.