FILE PHOTO: The World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters are pictured in Geneva, Switzerland, July 26, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled on Monday that the European Union continues to provide unfair subsidies to European planemaker Airbus AIR.PA, supporting the U.S. case for retaliatory tariffs.

A three-person WTO panel had looked into whether France, Germany, Spain and Britain had withdrawn illegal support for the Airbus A350 jetliner and the A380 superjumbo, as required to do under a previous WTO decision.

The United States was in October awarded the right to impose tariffs on $7.5 billion of EU imports in the case against Airbus. A decision on retaliation rights for the European Union in a related case on subsidies to Boeing BA.N is due next year.