WHEN Donald Trump became Americas president nearly a year ago,lobbyists campaigning for protection for the country’s airlines against competition from the Middle East were overjoyed. But they were less jubilant (extremely joyful) on December 13th when it was revealed that Donald Trump has decided to hold off on imposing sanctions against the three big Gulf carriers—Emirates of Dubai, Etihad of Abu Dhabi, and Qatar Airways—for what America’s big airlines allege are unfair subsidies that they receive from their governments. For now,the administration will continue discussions with the UAE and Qatar, the trio’s home countries. But it has not taken off the table the opportunity in the future of amending or terminating its Open Skies agreements that allow the Gulf carriers to coast to any American airport they want. A document from an administration meeting in September, and obtained by Politico,a news website, states that “additional...
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Source: economist.com