WTO says Boeing received illegal subsidies

GENEVA - World leading planemaker Boeing had received more than 5 billion US dollars in illegal US government subsidies, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Monday in a ruling.

According to the WTO's Appellate Body report, the US government had pumped at least 5.3 billion US dollars in illegal subsidies into Boeing between 1989 and 2006.

It also said the subsidies granted to Boeing by the Wichita City of Kansas also violate WTO rules.

The ruling came as the latest development in a seven-year-old tit-for-tat trade dispute concerning a four-decade-old race to dominate aviation manufacturing.

European Union (EU)'s trade commissioner Karel De Gucht hailed the Appellate Body report as a victory on the EU side.

"Today's ruling vindicates the EU's long-held claims that Boeing has received massive US government hand-outs in the past and continues to do so today," he said, adding that these "long-term subsides" had cost the EU industry billions of euros.

"This landmark ruling clearly shows the US has used an unlawful way of supporting business that has stood in the way of fair competition," De Gucht said, urging the US to put an end to "such harmful subsidies."