The European Union on Wednesday got the go-ahead to hit the United States with a record $4.04 billion in trade sanctions in a long-running row over tax breaks for major exporting firms, trade officials said.
The decision by the World Trade Organisation, approving a detailed list of goods, cleared the last hurdle to the EU's levying of punitive duties to which the Geneva-based trade referee agreed last August.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, on Wednesday gave the United States an autumn deadline to change the law or face the sanctions.