The European Union and the United States are about to settle their conflict over mutual subsidies to their aviation industry.
Insiders expect an agreement on Tuesday when US President Joe Biden visits the European leaders. However, a solution to the dispute over steel is further away, Brussels sources say.
The EU and the US have accused each other of unfairly favouring their aircraft manufacturers for 17 years. As a result, they have imposed punitive measures on each other because Washington supports Boeing and Brussels Airbus.
The EU countries where Airbus is based, France, Germany and Spain, are still considering the agreement on aviation subsidies, limiting state aid for several years. But they are unlikely to stop it, the sources estimate. Moreover, they point out that the Member States themselves have every interest in an agreement.
If Brussels and Washington did not come to an agreement, new trade sanctions would threaten both sides. So they were suspended in March, hoping that the two economic superpowers would reach an agreement in the near future.