Boeing's China Hopes Narrow to Salvaging 200-Jet Deal at Summit

Hopes that a US-China summit on Thursday would yield a fresh, large Boeing order are fading, with the planemaker now concentrating on closing a provisional deal for 200 aircraft reached in May, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

The talks remain unsettled, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are private. Boeing had been effectively locked out of Chinese jetliner orders since 2017 while European rival Airbus steadily expanded its share of one of the world's largest aviation markets.

The provisional May agreement, struck alongside US President Donald Trump's earlier summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing, brought Boeing back into contention. Before that meeting, officials from Boeing, China and the US had discussed a deal for as many as 500 jets. After the summit, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg described the smaller 200-jet arrangement as an "initial tranche" and said reopening the Chinese market was the real gain.

Investors and aviation analysts had anticipated a further large order at Thursday's meeting, but Ortberg downplayed that prospect last week. Richard Aboulafia, managing director of aerospace consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, said: "It will be a victory if the 200 airplane order can be saved."

Scott Kennedy, a China specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said new jetliner deals were not a leading priority for the summit. Washington and Beijing are more focused on extending a trade truce and discussing AI safeguards, arms sales to Taiwan, and trade arrangements covering soybeans and rare earth mineral exports, he said. "A lot of trade relationships are hostage to these meetings," Kennedy added. "New aircraft orders would be a benefit but I don't think that's a necessity for this summit."

Boeing declined to comment beyond Ortberg's recent remarks. China's commerce ministry and its embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment, and the US Trade Representative's Office also did not respond.

Separately, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that the two countries had agreed to extend by two months a trade truce due to expire on November 10, allowing more time to work towards a potentially larger trade agreement.

Airbus has made deeper inroads in China than Boeing in recent years, helped by a final assembly line in Tianjin and by China-Europe relations that have been "more benign" than Beijing's ties with Washington, said Shukor Yusof, founder of Singapore-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics. "Boeing has lost much of its influence in our region, partly due to politics, but mostly because of its own internal issues," he said.

Some progress on the May deal remains possible. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Fox News on Monday that about 140 jetliner orders were "in a good state," with another 10 being finalised. One of the people briefed on the matter said final details for part of the May agreement could be announced during the summit if contracts can be completed, despite the difficulties. Before the deal was signed, China had raised concerns about guaranteed access to spare parts following earlier threats from Trump; China's commerce ministry said in May that the US had provided supply guarantees for aircraft engine parts and components under the arrangement.

China is projected to order roughly 9,000 new jets by 2045, more than any other region, according to Airbus and Boeing market forecasts.