WASHINGTON—The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a science and technology policy think tank, today released the following statement from President Robert Atkinson commending the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) ruling that the European Union has not complied with its previous obligation to remedy illegal subsidies:
We commend the WTO for again recognizing that Europe has violated its WTO commitments by using subsidies in ways that clearly distort global economic competition. Moreover, these subsidies were an obvious hit to U.S. economic competitiveness and innovation in the aerospace sector. Had these transgressions been left unrecognized, it would have been a major blow to the idea of a rules-based trading system, further weakening faith that international, enforcement-based agreements can work. If we want to preserve a rules-based system, then countries, as well as international trade institutions, need to take a stand like this when commitments are broken and not allow clear violations to go on without consequences. We encourage the United States to seek WTO authorization to enact retaliatory tariffs to send a signal to the world that the rules-based trading system still works.
