The EU's trade commissioner said a ruling over Airbus's bid to supply tankers to the United States was politically-motivated and that he wants to talk to US Trade Representative Ron Kirk about it.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said he believed a World Trade Organization ruling late last month that state subsidies had given Airbus an advantage over Boeing was one sided.

De Gucht told Germany's Handelsblatt business daily the ruling was being used against Airbus in its bid for a contract worth up to USD$50 billion for new tankers for the US Air Force.

"The WTO panel on Airbus is being used against us politically in Washington, for example with the tanker deal for the US Air Force," he told the newspaper. "That is a problem, and I want to talk to Kirk about it."

A group of US lawmakers has demanded that the Air Force factor the WTO ruling into their decision on the tanker competition.

WTO judges said late last month the EU must cut prohibited export subsidies to Airbus which had injured Boeing.

The WTO panel concluded Airbus had been able to launch a series of passenger jets only thanks to subsidies from the EU and member states Britain, France, Germany and Spain, without which it would be a very different and much weaker company.

"Everyone knows that Boeing worked similarly to Airbus," de Gucht said. "Instead of state aid, there were billions of military or civilian research contracts there. We expect the WTO will recognize that by September at the latest."