The WTO has ruled against Airbus for illegal government subsidies.

The World Trade Organization ruled Wednesday that European governments gave planemaker Airbus illegal subsidies in its battle with U.S. competitor Boeing Co., in a first key ruling on a long-running dispute between the European Union and Washington.

Problem is the ruling is over 1000 pages and interpretation, as in will anything happen as a result, is confusing. So now the U.S. and the EU are arguing over what the ruling means.

Take, for example, one key argument in the dispute: did the U.S. prove that Airbus funding was harming Boeing? The U.S. says yes, as the panel recognized the ''serious prejudice'' suffered by the Chicago-based company.

But the EU is happy that American claims of ''material injury'' were rejected.

There were differing views on whether that means European subsidies were responsible for lost American jobs or market share.

Another question is what this means if the U.S. wishes to subsidize and protect key industries and innovation for future economic growth.

Notice this ruling comes years too late to stop Airbus from taking away orders and business from Boeing.

Meanwhile EPI has a new report, which shows China subsidized it's paper industry by $33 billion dollars from 2002-2009 to overtake the global market.

Remember the good news last week when the SEC banned flash trading?

Well, Public Citizen just put up a new blog post explaining WTO trade rules and how these rules might lead to the WTO trade complaint case against the SEC. The WTO might claim banning high frequency trading (known as HFT) is a barrier to trade.

HFT would almost certainly fall under the definition at Annex’s 5(a)(x): “Trading for own account or for account of customers, whether on an exchange, in an over-the-counter market or otherwise.” Even if it didn’t, the list in the Annex is illustrative, not exhaustive.

Look what's coming out, a star packed movie on the Seattle 1999 WTO protests...just in time for the 2008 election!

Here is the film, Battle in Seattle website which has timeline, interviews, history and request the film be shown in your area.

This is great!

I cannot think of any particular economic area more than trade, where pretty much the entire nation agrees. America and Americans are getting screwed. Blue, Read, Pink and Green, most people want major trade policy reforms. Trade policy has been orphaned by both campaigns (doing anything in workers interests or America's interests about trade that is) as if just describing how the middle class is disappearing and working America is in dire straights is actually enough to get them to vote for (flip a coin now) fill in the blank.

Here's the trailer:

WTO Rules Again China:

China violates global trade rules by requiring automakers operating there to buy components from local suppliers or face penalties, the World Trade Organization ruled on Friday.
Skip to next paragraph

The decision, issued in Geneva on a complaint brought by the European Union, the United States and Canada, is the first time China has lost a case since it joined the global trade arbiter in 2001

Note this is the first time China has lost.

Now read the last line in the article:

In April 2005, China began a system of levying tariffs on auto parts based on the amount of imports in the complete vehicle. Automakers must register with Chinese authorities and provide detailed information on the quantity and value of foreign parts used in their vehicles.