BRUSSELS -- The World Trade Organization ruled Friday that plane maker Airbus received illegal subsidies from European governments, according to two people familiar with the matter. The WTO said in a confidential interim ruling that the preferential government loans for the A380 passenger jet constituted an illegal export subsidy, these people said.

The decision could give the U.S. government and Chicago-based Boeing Co. legal ammunition to contest future funding for Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.

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