U.S. says sees no reason to reduce tariffs in EU aircraft subsidy case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Trade Representative's office on Monday said it saw no basis in Monday's World Trade Organization report that would justify reducing U.S. retaliatory tariffs by $2 billion as Europe's Airbus has suggested.

"Nothing in today's report even suggests that the (WTO) compliance panel found that the amount has decreased," said a USTR spokesman. "There is accordingly no basis for Airbus's assertions that the report 'implies' that the U.S. countermeasures should be reduced by $2 billion."

USTR earlier said it could increase tariffs on a wider range of European goods after the WTO rejected European Union claims that it no longer provides subsidies to Airbus. Airbus had said Washington should slash its authorized tariffs of $7.5 billion to $5.5 billion since the WTO dropped its previous references to its A380 causing lost sales to Boeing.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)