US warns Airbus loan may strain trade truce

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Monday that Washington still has no details on the European Investment Bank's record $3.4 billion loan to Airbus, made in June, despite repeated requests. The loan funds projects in France, Germany and Spain and is the EIB's largest ever to Airbus. Greer warned the situation injects substantial uncertainty into transatlantic aerospace trade and must be resolved quickly to ensure market-driven production and avoid violating the hard-won large civil aircraft deal. The United States has not declared a violation or announced new tariffs. Greer said he had sincerely hoped trade-distorting European subsidies to Airbus were a thing of the past, and that France, Germany and Spain have long supported Airbus to gain an unfair advantage over US aerospace workers and businesses. An EIB spokesperson said in July this is a normal loan carrying interest, part of the EIB's overall financing activity. Thomas Toepfer told reporters in London in July the loan was taken completely at market level. Boeing asked the US government in July to press for transparency. The episode follows a 17-year WTO battle and a 2021 truce that suspended tariffs on $11.5 billion in trade, extended in July after a broader US-EU deal. Whether the loan breaches the LCA terms remains open.