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US warns EU over $3.4 billion Airbus loan

Published

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says the European Investment Bank loan threatens the trade truce on aircraft financing. He says his office has received no details despite repeated requests. Airbus calls the loan a standard corporate facility.

The European Investment Bank made the loan to Airbus in June. Greer said in a statement that the loan creates uncertainty for aerospace trade across the Atlantic. He said it risks breaking the terms of the large civil aircraft deal.

An Airbus spokesman said the loan is "a standard corporate financing facility, similar to commercially-available loans we've signed in the past." The spokesman said it was meant to diversify the company's funding sources.

The European Investment Bank denied that it gave Airbus any unusual support. Airbus finance chief Thomas Toepfer said the loan was taken out completely at market level. Boeing asked the US government in July to press for transparency on the loan.

Key facts

Who
Jamieson Greer (Donald Trump's top trade adviser); Airbus (aerospace company that received the EU loan); European Investment Bank (EU's official lending arm that made the loan); Boeing (aircraft manufacturer that did not immediately respond to requests for comment)
What
Greer warned that the EU's record-breaking loan to aerospace company Airbus could upend the trade truce agreed by Washington and Brussels, risking a return of transatlantic trade war. The article provided is only a headline and description with no body text.
When
27 October 2026
Where
Washington, Brussels, European Union
Status
Reported

Elections Hot

What you need to know

Voting in the 2026 Local Government Elections is under way at 23,696 stations, and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reported a smooth start on 4 November. Stations opened at 7am and close at 9pm, and by 10am preliminary figures showed 3,523,691 voters had cast ballots.

There were problems: unused ballot papers were stolen from Mnyameni Secondary School near Durban, police opened a case, and the IEC relieved the station staff of duty. Some voters in Tshwane said they were turned away for wearing party shirts, but the IEC denied this and said only mayoral candidates' entourages were barred.

ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe told members not to query the results or discredit the IEC, while the IEC said false online claims show routine procedures as fraud.

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US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

Democrats won back both the US House and Senate in the midterm elections held on 3 November, according to media projections. Exit polls showed voters were angry about high prices and the direction of the country, and rebuked President Donald Trump.

Before the vote, US forces struck targets on Qeshm Island in Iran, while Republicans struggled to defend the war against Iran on the campaign trail. Iranian officials said US voters rejected the war, and Tehran stayed on high alert for possible new US strikes.

Markets reacted, with the dollar hitting a one-month low and the rand firming to around R16.55, as analysts pointed to fears of gridlock in Washington.

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  3. Ramaphosa wants US trade deal after AGOA suspension

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AI Cooling

What you need to know

Nvidia has told its cloud computing clients to sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic said it has committed to spend close to $900bn on AI infrastructure, and that its computing costs are rising faster than its revenues.

Elsewhere, reports from unnamed sources say OpenAI's latest funding round is falling short of expectations, and a judge let the NAACP pollution case against xAI proceed. In South Africa, the VAST AI investment scheme went offline on 30 October after withdrawals marked approved did not arrive, according to a news investigation.

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