Well, there’s a surprise. It turns out that at least some of the billions of euros in government financing that Airbus has received over the years contravenes World Trade Organisation rules. Who suspected that? It will be equally unremarkable if a separate WTO panel in a few months finds Boeing is also guilty of receiving illicit subsidies. But what would be truly shocking, and extremely foolish, is for Washington and Brussels actually to start imposing trade sanctions on each other as a result.

The case is the biggest ever handled by the WTO, and any likely retaliation would materially damage transatlantic trade. Instead, the two sides need to return to the negotiating table, where they were until the US decided to launch litigation in 2005.