BUSINESS BRIEFING / TRADE

The United States scored an initial victory in a long-running trade conflict when the World Trade Organization found that the European Union had provided illegal subsidies to aircraft maker Airbus.

People briefed by U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk described the confidential, preliminary ruling as a decisive win for the U.S. and Chicago-based Boeing Co., finding that European governments provided illegal subsidies for all of the commercial jetliners that France-based Airbus has made. But people close to EU officials called the American victory less than sweeping.

Appeals in the case are likely to take years, experts said.