The World Trade Organization says the United States can impose tariffs on up to $7.5 billion US worth of goods from the European Union as retaliation for illegal subsidies that the bloc gave to plane-maker Airbus — a record award from the trade body.

The move green-lights the Trump administration to slap countermeasures on the 28-member bloc and follows a WTO ruling in May 2018 on the Airbus subsidies.

Wednesday's award doesn't end the long-running trans-Atlantic dispute over aircraft: WTO arbitrators are expected to rule next year on how much the EU can impose in tariffs following a separate decision that went against Boeing.

The U.S. has already announced plans to impose tariffs on EU cheeses, olives, whisky, as well as aircraft and aircraft parts. Wednesday's decision may require fine-tuning of that list...

This was excerpted from the 2 October 2019 edition of CBC News.