Trump Says China Will Buy 200 Boeing Jets, But Beijing Isn’t Backing It Up

The New York Times, FOX News, Reuters, the Financial Times, and Bloomberg contributed to this report.

President Trump said Thursday that China had agreed to order 200 Boeing jets, a potential boost for the US planemaker in one of the world’s biggest aviation markets. By Friday, though, Beijing was still not saying the same thing.

Trump made the claim after meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, telling Fox News that Xi had personally signaled the purchase.

“He’s going to order 200 jets. That’s a big thing,” Trump said.

Chinese officials, however, stopped well short of confirming any aircraft deal. Asked directly whether China had agreed to buy Boeing planes, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry only talked up broader US-China trade ties and called for both sides to keep economic relations stable.

That silence matters. A Boeing order of that size would be a major win for the company, which has lost ground to Airbus in China after years of setbacks, trade friction and safety concerns. Boeing’s position in the market has weakened badly, while Airbus has built a much stronger foothold.

The timing also makes the claim hard to pin down. Trump has floated big Boeing deals before, and plenty of them have never gone anywhere. This one would be different only if it turns into an actual contract, not just summit talk.

China has been pushing hard for industrial self-reliance and trying to reduce dependence on Western companies. Aviation is one of the few big sectors where US and European manufacturers still have the upper hand. Even there, Boeing has had a rough ride. Deliveries to Chinese customers slowed after the 737 MAX crashes, then got tangled again by pandemic fallout and tariff fights.

Airbus has been the clear winner from Boeing’s troubles. Chinese airlines have a much larger backlog with the European company, and Airbus has even assembled jets in Tianjin for years, giving it a local edge Boeing never matched.

For now, Trump is calling the summit a success. Beijing is not. And in the middle sits Boeing, waiting to find out whether the 200-jet headline becomes business or just another diplomatic tease.