Report: U.S. sees win in WTO plane ruling

Unnamed sources who had been briefed by U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told Saturday's Chicago Tribune he sees Friday's ruling by the World Trade Organization as a victory for Boeing because it applies to all commercial jetliners made by the French aerospace firm Airbus, the Chicago manufacturer's main competitor in the passenger airliner field.

The WTO gave the confidential and preliminary 1,000-page ruling on the 5-year-old trade conflict to the U.S. and EU governments Friday. European sources, however, were quoted as questioning the decisiveness of the WTO's ruling, the Tribune reported.

A separate WTO panel is also expected to rule by the end of the year on a response complaint brought the EU against the United States over state and federal grants given to Boeing, the newspaper said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.