WTO Members Endorse $4 Billion in Retaliation Against US

The World Trade Organization member countries cleared the way for the European Union to impose tariffs on $4 billion worth of U.S. exports because of past tax breaks for the Boeing Company. In the EU's Oct. 26 response to the development, Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis reiterated that the EU would prefer a settlement that drops tariffs on EU goods rather than imposing tariffs on U.S. exports. “The European Commission is preparing the countermeasures, in close consultation with our Member States. As I have made clear all along, our preferred outcome is a negotiated settlement with the U.S. To that end, we continue to engage intensively with our American counterparts, and I am in regular contact with U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer,” he said in the release.