US aviation major Boeing is negotiating a potential sale of as many as 500 aircraft to Chinese companies, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the discussions.
A deal of this scale would mark a significant boost for the struggling manufacturer, whose shares rose as much as 3.7% in pre-market trading before settling with gains of less than 1% about 15 minutes into Tuesday’s session.
According to Bloomberg, the agreement would depend heavily on Washington and Beijing securing a longer-term settlement in their ongoing trade dispute. The report said Chinese officials have already begun assessing the aircraft requirements of domestic carriers.
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has used tariffs as leverage against key US trading partners, arguing that deficits reflect unfair practices. Purchases from Boeing, the nation’s largest manufacturing exporter, have often featured in Trump’s trade negotiations to balance imbalances.
In July, the White House announced that Japan had committed to buy 100 Boeing aircraft and Indonesia 50 as part of broader trade understandings aimed at avoiding higher tariffs.
China, however, has been the main target of Trump’s trade overhaul. Both countries imposed steep tariffs on each other’s products this year, including restrictions that temporarily halted Boeing deliveries. The two sides agreed in May to roll back duties temporarily, later extending the suspension by 90 days as talks continue.
China’s last large Boeing order came in November 2017 during Trump’s state visit, when Beijing agreed to purchase 300 planes worth more than $37 billion.
Boeing, meanwhile, is trying to regain footing after years of setbacks. In July, the company reported a narrower second-quarter loss and its highest delivery tally since 2018. But its reputation remains clouded by safety and quality control concerns, including a near-catastrophic fuselage blowout on a 737 MAX in January 2024, which came after two fatal crashes of the same aircraft type in 2018 and 2019.
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