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By Tim Hepher and Philip Blenkinsop
PARIS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Shares in Airbus and French luxury goods exporters fell on Monday as the European Union acknowledged it may face U.S. tariffs in a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies, part of an escalating tit-for-tat trade row.
The World Trade Organization has approved a U.S. request to impose tariffs on European goods in the latest chapter of a dispute over aircraft subsidies that could lead to European reprisals, two people familiar with the case said.
The scope of the decision, which had been widely anticipated, is due to be announced in the week of Sept 30.
The EU's trade chief said the United States was likely to impose tariffs "quite soon".
The WTO has found that both Airbus and its U.S. rival Boeing received billions of dollars of harmful subsidies in a pair of cases marking the world's largest ever corporate trade dispute.
The EU and United States are now drawing up potential tariffs after the Geneva body also found neither side had adhered fully to its findings. But Washington is first in line to turn this into actual tariffs because its case is running nine months ahead.
Washington has sought permission to impose tariffs up to 100% on European goods worth $11.2 billion a year. These include aircraft and aerospace parts from Airbus host nations - Britain, France, Germany and Spain - as well a range of goods including wine, cheese and luxury goods from across the EU.
Exports of Airbus commercial helicopters could also be hit.
The final amount will depend on WTO arbitrators who presented their findings internally last week.
Washington must then draw from a broader list of EU products with a trade value of $25 billion a year that it has tapped for possible inclusion in the final list of any punitive tariffs.
Airbus jets and parts are likely to be hit first, whatever the size of the approved countermeasures, trade sources said.
Shares in Airbus, which relies on a flow of parts to feed an assembly line in Alabama, and which also counts U.S. airlines among its major customers for aircraft assembled at its main plants in Europe, fell 3.2%.
Luxury goods group LVMH - whose products include Louis Vuitton handbags, Moet et Chandon champagne and Hennessy cognac - fell 3.5%. The United States represents just under a quarter of group revenue.
Hermes International fell 1.5%.
Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said in an interview published on Monday that the planemaker would not see a big impact in 2019 but could not rule out disruption.
SHIFTING BLAME