US warns EU that $3.4bn Airbus loan threatens aircraft trade truce

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer warned the European Union on Monday that a record-breaking loan to Airbus from the European Investment Bank threatens the delicate transatlantic trade truce, including the deal on financing large civil aircraft projects, Reuters reported (https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ustr-greer-warns-eu-that-loan-airbus-threatens-trade-truce-aircraft-financing-2026-10-27/).

Greer said his office had received no details about the $3.4 billion loan, made in June by the EIB, the EU’s official lending arm, despite what he described as ongoing requests. US planemaker Boeing had asked the US government in July to press for transparency on the loan, which came amid speculation that Airbus would use the funds to develop a new aircraft model, Reuters reported.

“This situation injects substantial uncertainty into transatlantic trade in the aerospace sector,” Greer said. “It is important this situation is resolved as soon as possible to ensure market-driven production in the aerospace sector and to avoid violation of the terms of our hard-won LCA deal.”

Airbus told the Financial Times that the EIB facility was a standard corporate financing arrangement needed to manage a high-value global production system and supply chain, and that it was engaging with the relevant authorities and willing to provide more information to governments, according to a report of the Financial Times account (https://tradersunion.com/news/geopolitics-trade/show/3975119-airbus-loan-us-eu-trade-truce/).

The dispute revives one of the longest-running flashpoints in US-EU trade. The two sides fought a 17-year battle over alleged aircraft subsidies at the World Trade Organization, with both sides winning partial victories, before agreeing a five-year truce in 2021 that forestalled mutual tariffs on some $11.5 billion worth of trade, Reuters reported. The truce was extended in July after the European Parliament approved a broader US trade deal that removed tariffs on US industrial goods in return for a 15% US tariff on most EU goods.

A key question for the US Trade Representative’s office is whether the terms of the EIB loan would be considered a subsidy for Airbus, as the WTO has found in the past on such loans, Reuters reported. Greer stopped short of announcing any action, framing the issue as one needing urgent resolution.