The US is weighing tariffs on $11bn in EU products — including civilian aircraft and agricultural products ranging from Roquefort cheese to olive oil — in response to World Trade Organization rulings that found that Brussels had provided illegal subsidies to Airbus, in a development that threatens to further ramp up transatlantic trade tensions.

The move by the Trump administration was announced on Monday night — and comes on the heels of a WTO ruling establishing that the US had itself illegally subsidised the production of Boeing aircraft. 

US levies on the EU products would come on top of American tariffs already imposed on European steel and aluminium imports, and amid a threat by the Trump administration to add tariffs on EU automotive products for national security reasons.