U.S., EU Spar Over Airbus, Boeing Aid By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and the European Union faced off on Wednesday over billions of dollars in subsidies for top aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, by filing competing cases at the World Trade Organization. Washington, which has been pressing Brussels for a negotiated solution to the dispute, took the first step. It filed a case challenging European loans to help Airbus develop aircraft and terminated a 1992 civil aircraft agreement covering government support for the two manufacturers. The EU quickly filed its own case against U.S. government support for Boeing (BA.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) , which over the past decade has lost its position as the world's largest civil aircraft manufacturer to its European rival. The 1992 agreement allows European governments to finance up to 33 percent of Airbus' cost of developing new aircraft, including $3.2 billion in loans for the new A380 superjumbo jet. Washington charges Airbus also has received about $3.3 billion in other government assistance for that project, helping it overtake Boeing. "Since its creation thirty-five years ago, some Europeans have justified subsidies to Airbus as necessary to support an 'infant' industry. If that rationalization were ever valid, its time has long passed," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said in a statement. Airbus, which began as a consortium of French, German, Spanish and British companies, is now co-owned by European aerospace company EADS and Britain's BAE Systems Plc. In its countercomplaint, the EU charged that Boeing has received some $23 billion in U.S. subsidies since 1992. That includes about $3.2 billion in tax breaks from Washington state to persuade Boeing to base production of its 200-to-300-seater 7E7 airplane there, EU officials said. The U.S. complaint was "obviously an attempt to divert attention from Boeing's self-inflicted decline," European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said in a statement. "If this is the path the U.S. has chosen, we accept the challenge, not least because it is high time to put an end to massive illegal U.S. subsidies to Boeing which damage Airbus, in particular those for Boeing's new 7E7 program," he said. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION     Continued ... Quelle "U.S., EU Spar Over Airbus, Boeing Aid" : reuters.com Main page for "U.S., EU Spar Over Airbus, Boeing Aid"