China has ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing Co. jets as part of the tit-for-tat trade war that’s seen US President Donald Trump levy tariffs of as high as 145% on Chinese goods, according to people familiar with the matter.
Beijing has also requested that Chinese carriers halt any purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US companies, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing matters that are private.
The order came after China unveiled retaliatory tariffs of 125% on American goods this past weekend, the people said. Those levies on their own would have more than doubled the cost of US-made aircraft and parts, making it impractical for Chinese airlines to accept Boeing planes.
The Chinese government is also considering ways to provide assistance to airlines that lease Boeing jets and are facing higher costs, the people said.
Shares of the US planemaker slid as much as 2.5% on Tuesday after Bloomberg News reported on the Chinese moves, and were down 1.1% at 9.43am in New York. Through Monday, Boeing shares had declined 10% this year.
The fast-moving dispute between the world’s two biggest economies has caught Boeing in the middle, although the situation is fluid and could change at any moment. Trump has backtracked on some US levies, including fees imposed on Apple Inc. iPhones imported from China.
See also: Trump warns tariffs are coming for electronics after reprieve
About 10 Boeing 737 Max aircraft are preparing to enter Chinese airline fleets, including two each for China Southern Airlines Co., Air China Ltd. and Xiamen Airlines Co., based on data from Aviation Flights Group. Some of the jets are parked near Boeing’s factory base in Seattle while others are at a finishing center in Zhoushan in eastern China, according to the production-tracking firm’s website.
Delivery paperwork and payment on some of these jets may have been completed before the reciprocal tariffs announced by China on April 11 took effect on April 12, and those planes may be allowed to enter China on a case-by-case basis, some of the people said.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China didn’t respond to a faxed request for comment. Boeing declined to comment. Representatives for China Southern, Air China and Xiamen Airlines also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
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Last week, Bloomberg reported that Juneyao Airlines Co. was delaying delivery of a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft that it was due to receive in about three weeks.
For Boeing, the standoff is a fresh setback in one of the world’s biggest markets for aircraft sales.
There is “likely some hope that this is temporary and provides China a bargaining chip in any negotiation” Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said in a research note.
China is forecast to make up 20% of global aircraft demand over the next two decades and in 2018, nearly a quarter of Boeing’s output ended up there. But the US planemaker hasn’t announced a major order in China in recent years due to trade tensions and self-inflicted issues.
In 2019, China became the first nation to ground the 737 Max following two deadly crashes. Trade disputes with the Biden and first Trump administrations also helped tilt Chinese orders toward Europe’s Airbus SE. Then in 2024, Boeing suffered a quality crisis when a door plug blew out mid-flight in January.
Boeing’s troubles in China haven’t affected Boeing as much as they could have, given airlines’ massive post-pandemic requirements for new aircraft, especially from markets like India, which has taken some planes originally meant for Chinese airlines.
The US company has delivered 13 737 Max jets and three 787s to China this year, with 28 Max and one 787 remaining based on Cirium data, according to JPMorgan analyst Seth Seifman.
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“We do not see China as critical to Boeing’s ramp over the next few years,” Seifman said in a note. “China will be important longer term, however.”
The standoff also underscores that China is still reliant on overseas manufacturers for passenger aircraft to serve its population’s demand for air travel.
While Airbus is the more important supplier and Chinese carriers are counting on the domestically produced Comac C919 to supplement their narrowbody needs, airlines still have hundreds of Boeing planes in their fleets that will require maintenance, repair and replacement.
A number of Chinese airlines and leasing firms have built up a buffer of spare parts over the past couple of years, both from OEMs and from buying up older aircraft, one of the people said. This could help the country’s aviation industry weather any squeeze on availability.
What Bloomberg Intelligence says:
China’s halt of Boeing deliveries isn’t unexpected amid its trade war with the US and should be manageable given the country’s orders are only a small portion of the backlog. However, if Boeing can’t sell those planes to other airlines (Indian carriers have shown strong interest) it reduces its efforts to pare inventory and improve efficiency.
—George Ferguson and Melissa Balzano, BI analysts
China announced on Friday that it will apply the 125% tariff on all US goods from April 12, in the latest escalation that started when Trump imposed a US surcharge aimed at lowering America’s trade deficit. Including a 20% levy assessed earlier this year over China’s role in fentanyl trafficking, the rate of US tariffs on China is now 145%.
Boeing still has numerous finished planes in inventory that were originally meant for Chinese airlines. The US planemaker has warned that an escalating trade spat could also hurt supply chains that had been severely strained by the pandemic and were only recently showing signs of getting back to normal.
