Five US Senators urged President Barack Obama on Friday to deny Boeing's commercial rival Airbus a politically charged contract to build a fleet of US aerial refueling tankers.
The bipartisan group of lawmakers called on Obama in a letter to act based on an early September World Trade Organization (WTO) interim ruling that the European consortium had benefited from illegal subsidies.
"These subsidies have given Airbus an unfair advantage in the competition to replace aerial refueling tankers at the Department of Defense," wrote Democratic Senators Maria Cantwell and Debbie Stabenow as well as Republican Senators Sam Brownback, Pat Roberts, and Kit Bond.
"European governments should not be rewarded with US contracts for products they illegally subsidized, and DoD (the Department of Defense) should not take actions that would undermine further efforts by the US Trade Representative to level the playing field in the international aviation market," they said.
The US military announced Wednesday that it plans to reopen competition "in the next few weeks" for the politically charged, 35-billion-dollar tanker contract, which brings much-sought jobs amid a global economic downturn.
The lawmakers told Obama they "look forward to hearing what steps you will take to preserve a level playing field for US workers in defense procurements, including the upcoming tanker competition."
The battle has pitted US aviation giant Boeing against Northrop Grumman and its partner, Airbus's parent firm the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS).
The contract for 179 refueling aircraft was initially awarded in February 2008 to Northrop and EADS.
But the deal was withdrawn in July last year after Boeing successfully appealed the decision to the US Government Accountability Office.
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