New York Times / By JOSEPH KAHN
WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 - President Clinton held his 15th and final summit meeting with European leaders today, but the two sides failed to make notable progress in resolving several trade disputes that Mr. Clinton had sought to settle before leaving office.
In meetings with the French president, Jacques Chirac; the European Commission president, Romano Prodi of Italy; and teams of officials from both sides, the Clinton administration pressed its objections to the European Union's restrictions on beef and banana imports and its promised subsidies for a new Airbus superjumbo passenger aircraft.
George W. Bush, the president-elect, now seems certain to inherit all of those disputes when he takes office in January, as both sides appeared to dig in rather than propose compromises.
Mr. Clinton warned his European guests that they risked a full-blown trade dispute, potentially the largest ever between the United States and Europe, if European nations offerred preferential financing to help Airbus build its A3XX superjumbo.
The jet would compete with the Boeing 747, which has long had no competition in its category.
The Clinton administration has been threatening to take the matter to the World Trade Organization unless Europe proves that loans promised to Airbus by Germany, Britain and France are not effectively subsidies for the project, which is expected to cost as much as $12 billion to develop.
Government export subsidies are not permitted under the trade organization's rules.
"The president impressed on them today - quite strongly - that funding needs to be on a commercial basis," said Charlene Barshefsky, the United States trade representative.
The Clinton administration has been waving its finger at European support for Airbus for months. Though European governments have so far not provided the information the United States has sought, it seems highly unlikely that the Clinton administration will take Europe to the trade organization over the issue.
Airbus has already lined up 50 orders for the new plane, which can carry up to 650 passengers on two decks.
Some airlines that are among Boeing's best customers have ordered the aircraft, and Boeing has been reluctant to be seen as seeking to kill the project.
The United States has already won trade organization cases against European restrictions on beef and banana imports and has applied trade sanctions in retaliation. Talks about compromise proposals on both cases have been continuing, but officials did not sound optimistic about reaching solutions soon.
Though there were no breakthroughs on trade, the two sides announced measures to try to make drugs to fight AIDS, malaria and other infectious disease more affordable in poor countries.:
