European nations would retaliate if the United...

European nations would retaliate if the United States carried out threatened trade action to halt billions of dollars of European subsidies to airline consortium Airbus Industrie, an Airbus spokesman said. He said this could entail import tariffs or appeals to the Geneva-based General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. U.S. officials said they were contemplating trade action after reaching an impasse in efforts to stop the subsidies, which they say give Airbus an unfair advantage against U.S. rivals Boeing Co. and McDonnell Douglas Corp.