Since 1997, the European Union (EU) has been objecting to US tax breaks for exporters claiming that they are illegal export subsidies. The World Trade Organization is expected to rule today that the breaks are illegal. This will be the fourth time the WTO has ruled against the US, each time the US has appealed. The ruling would allow the EU to impose retaliatory trade sanctions on US imports.
See "D-day for trans-Atlantic trade war", BBC, BBC News Online, January 13, 2002