Chinese airlines are refusing to take delivery of Boeing aircraft amid the ongoing trade standoff between the United States and their country.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg told CNBC on Wednesday that his company had three 737 Max airplanes in China ready for delivery. Boeing has since flown two of the planes back to the U.S. and plans to bring the third one back soon.
“They have in fact stopped taking delivery of aircraft due to the tariff environment,” Ortberg said.
“We have roughly 50 airplanes in our plan this year going into China, so we’re going to be pretty pragmatic with what we do here,” he continued. “For those airplanes that haven’t been built yet, we’ll be looking to maybe redirect those to other customers.”
“For the airplanes that have been built, we call it remarketing. There’s plenty of customers out there looking for the Max aircraft in particular,” Ortberg said. “We’re not going to wait too long. I’m not going to let this derail the recovery of our company.”
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump raised baseline tariffs on Chinese imports to 145 percent and Beijing retaliated with a 125 percent tariff on U.S. goods, according to Reuters.
Trump encouraged Boeing in a Truth Social post to “default China” for refusing to take possession of the planes the companies had previously committed to purchase.
BREAKING: President Trump calls on Boeing to “default China” for refusing to receive finished planes it had previously committed to paying for. He also says China has failed to stop the flow of fentanyl flowing into America.
“It better stop, NOW!” pic.twitter.com/rFnUSxiNAX
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 24, 2025
Is Boeing headed in the right direction?
“It better stop, NOW!” Trump wrote.
Presumably, he is arguing for Boeing to find China in breach of contract and seek a legal remedy in court.
CNBC noted that Ortberg’s comments come “after Boeing reported a narrower-than-expected loss for the first quarter and cash burn that came in better than analysts feared as airplane deliveries surged in the three months ended March 31.”
As a sign that trade relations may be thawing between Washington and Beijing, China announced it was exempting certain U.S. imports from its 125 percent tariff, Reuters reported.
The government “is asking firms to identify critical goods they need levy-free, according to businesses that have been notified, in the clearest sign yet of Beijing’s concerns about the trade war’s fallout,” the news outlet said.
Trump also exempted some Chinese imports, including electronics, from the high tariff rate, but they are still subject to the 20 percent tariff to address the ongoing fentanyl crisis.
Washington Post: maybe your reporters should try reading before posting. These products are subject to the tariff under the original IEEPA on China of 20 percent. https://t.co/MI4oDEb8S3
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) April 12, 2025
Trump told Time that his administration is talking with China, and that Chinese President Xi Jinping called him regarding trade, though Beijing disputes the talks are happening.
“I don’t think that’s a sign of weakness on his behalf,” Trump said of Xi.
“There’s a number at which they will feel comfortable,” he added. “But you can’t let them make a trillion dollars on us.”
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