Boeing could jeopardize the launch funding of the new 7E7 aircraft should it press for an investigation of government subsidies received by rival Airbus

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), August, 2004

Boeing could jeopardize the launch funding of the new 7E7 aircraft should it press for an investigation of government subsidies received by rival Airbus because Boeing itself has received government subsidies that violate world-trade agreements, according to David Pritchard, a research associate at the Canada-United States Trade Center within the University at Buffalo (N.Y.) Department of Geography.

"There are two major differences between an Airbus A380 'subsidy' and a Boeing 7E7 'subsidy,'" Pritchard points out. The Airbus subsidy is in the form of repayable loans with interest for aircraft development, which is legal, according to the World Trade Organization. The Boeing subsidy, on the other hand, is for aircraft production, which is prohibited by the WTO and which never will be paid back.