DUTCH RESPONSE ON LARGE COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 002311 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD EAIR EIND NL USTR EUN SUBJECT: DUTCH RESPONSE ON LARGE COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT SUBSIDIES REF: STATE 193990 Post delivered reftel talking points on September 10 to Max Simonis, Policy Advisor in the Directorate-General for Foreign Economic Relations at the Dutch Economics Ministry, and followed up on September 14 with Mark Jacobs, Senior Trade Policy Advisor in the same Directorate-General. Jacobs attended the Article 133 Committee meeting on September 10 in Brussels and confirmed that the Committee's discussion on large commercial aircraft subsidies was limited to the lunch session. He reported that the 10-15 minute discussion included a briefing by the Commission on the USTR position and the Commission's intention to enter into talks with USTR on the subject. Jacobs noted that no position was taken during the meeting. He added that the Dutch, with no direct interests in the matter, also had not yet formulated a formal position on the issue. Rather, they expected any real discussions to take place during upcoming talks with USTR. SOBEL