The World Trade Organization, WTO, has formally given the go-ahead for the United States to impose trade sanctions on up to 7.5 billion dollars worth of European Union goods. This follows a ruling that European planemaker Airbus received illegal subsidies.

The move by the WTO's dispute settlement body was largely a formality after the long-awaited ruling by a WTO arbitration panel on the 2nd of this month. The ruling found that the European bloc and member States Britain, France, Germany and Spain failed to remove improper subsidies for Airbus that hindered sales by US rival Boeing.