The World Trade Organization ruled in favor of the United States Wednesday in a long-running dispute with the European Union over subsidies to Airbus, paving the way for the U.S. to hit the EU with $7.5 billion in retaliatory tariffs.

Earlier this year, the U.S. indicated it would place levies on EU cheese, olive oil, fruit juice, jelly, seafood, wine, and textiles, among other products, in the case of such a ruling.

The U.S. and EU have been fighting since 2004 over whether their respective aerospace industry policies toward Airbus and Boeing amount to unfair practices. The WTO's ruling said the EU subsidized Airbus by giving it preferential treatment on interest rates.

"The Appellate Body upheld the Panel’s findings that Airbus paid a lower interest rate ... than would have been available to it on the market and, consequently, a benefit was thereby conferred," the WTO ruled.

While Wednesday's ruling allowed tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of goods, the White House earlier this year said it was seeking retaliatory tariffs of up to 100% on $11 billion worth of goods when the WTO ruled. The administration raised that figure an additional $4 billion in July. The EU has threatened $10 billion in tariffs in return.

European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom warned the U.S. against enacting new tariffs. "We remain of the view that even if the United States obtains authorisation from the WTO Dispute Settlement Body, opting for applying countermeasures now would be short-sighted and counterproductive."

The WTO said earlier this year that the U.S. had failed to eliminate subsidies for Boeing. The alleged subsidy was a $100 million tax break given to Boeing from Washington state, not a federal government policy.

Both Europe and the US subsidize their own airplane manufacturers.

It looks like we are seeing the end of the free trade era.