President Trump said on Thursday that China had agreed to order 200 Boeing jets, potentially lifting the fortunes of the American jet manufacturer in one of the world\u2019s largest aviation markets.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Fox News, Mr. Trump hailed what he termed as successes from the first day of meetings with Xi Jinping, China\u2019s top leader. He said Mr. Xi told him that an order would be placed for the American planes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to order 200 jets. That\u2019s a big thing,\u201d Mr. Trump said in an interview that took place after the morning meetings between the two leaders.<\/p>\n
However, as of midday Friday, the Chinese side had not made any announcements regarding whether it has agreed to purchase aircraft from Boeing.<\/p>\n
Numerous predictions of a very large Boeing deal have preceded recent summits between the two countries\u2019 leaders, but none have materialized. In September 2024, the aircraft-leasing arm of state-owned China Development Bank did order 50 Boeing 737 MAX 8s, but separately from a summit.<\/p>\n
A Boeing official referred a request for comment to the White House. Kelly Ortberg, Boeing\u2019s chief executive, is part of the delegation of American business leaders who have traveled to Beijing with President Trump.<\/p>\n
As Mr. Trump was preparing to leave Beijing on Friday, Mr. Xi said at an appearance with him that they had \u201cachieved a wide range of cooperative outcomes.\u201d In a statement a little earlier in the day, a spokesman for China\u2019s foreign ministry gave a general review of the summit, offering no details on the state of trade negotiations but saying that the interaction between the two leaders \u201cinjected much-needed stability and certainty into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beijing has strategically pursued industrial self-reliance and worked to reduce its dependencies on the West. But in a handful of sectors<\/a>, American and European companies still lead. One is commercial aviation, with Boeing and Europe\u2019s Airbus competing for China\u2019s enormous market.<\/p>\n One in seven planes in use today flies in China, according to a 2025 estimate by Cirium<\/a>, an aviation data firm. Boeing projects<\/a> that China\u2019s jet fleet will double over the next 20 years to almost 10,000 planes.<\/p>\n Deliveries of Boeing planes to Chinese customers slowed significantly after two fatal crashes involving Boeing 737 MAX jets in 2018 and 2019. In Mr. Trump\u2019s first term, the two countries struck an agreement<\/a> in January 2020 that called for a sharp increase in Chinese purchases of American-manufactured goods, a target that could only be met through major purchases of Boeing jets.<\/p>\n Weeks later, China declared it could not comply with the agreement because of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and, in April 2020, it canceled the purchase of 29 undelivered 737 MAX jets.<\/p>\n Although the 2020 agreement called for purchases from the United States to continue rising through 2025, China did not return to it, and discussions of aircraft purchases have proceeded slowly ever since.<\/p>\n Deliveries to China resumed in earnest in 2024, but stalled again last year when Chinese airlines, apparently on government instructions, warned of further delays in response to Mr. Trump\u2019s tariffs. Shipments eventually restarted as trade tensions eased.<\/p>\n Boeing\u2019s troubles in China have been a boon for Airbus, its European rival. Chinese customers have outstanding orders for nearly 500 Airbus jets, compared with fewer than 200 from Boeing, said Cirium.<\/p>\n