Tariffs Lifted on UK Airbus Retaliation List for Four Months

The tariffs on British goods on the Airbus list will be lifted for four months to create space for settling the Airbus-Boeing dispute between the United Kingdom and U.S. The U.K. had already suspended its tariffs on American goods over Boeing subsidies on Jan. 1. That suspension will also last another four months. The tariffs on British imports were lifted immediately.

The two countries issued a joint statement on March 4. Scotch whisky, cashmere and some machinery were on the tariff list, the amount of which was authorized by the World Trade Organization.

National Association of Beverage Importers President Robert Tobiassen said that while the four-month mutual suspension shows the administration “is taking real action on the campaign promise to rebuild trade relationships with our traditional allies,” it's unclear what the longer-term future of the Airbus/Boeing retaliatory tariffs will be. Tobiassen, who emailed in response to the news of the suspension, added that the Section 232 tariffs will overshadow other efforts to lower tensions.

“Here, the UK and the U.S. left in place their steel and aluminum tariffs. The [European Union] has offered a mutual suspension of the Boeing/Airbus retaliatory tariffs along with a suspension of the steel and aluminum,” he wrote. “The silence of USTR on this mutual suspension offer is deafening when heard with the ... announcement the U.S. and UK suspension of the Airbus/Boeing retaliatory tariffs. Steel is the juggernaut.” But he said he hopes the EU will see this suspension as a model.