China Confirms Purchase of 200 Boeing Planes in Landmark Trade Deal

Erbil (Kurdistan24) - China formally confirmed on Wednesday that it had agreed to purchase 200 Boeing aircraft, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced, finalizing the largest single sale of American-made planes to Beijing in nearly a decade and delivering a tangible commercial outcome from last week's summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.

"Aviation is a key area for deepening mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the United States," the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement released on Wednesday, ending days of silence from Chinese officials who had initially avoided comment after Trump and Boeing publicly announced the deal following the summit.

Trump told reporters on May 15, on his return flight to Washington, that China had agreed to purchase "approximately 400, 450 engines, 200 planes and a promise of up to 750 if they do a good job," the New York Times reported. Kelly Ortberg, Boeing's chief executive, was part of the delegation of American business executives who accompanied Trump to Beijing for the two-day summit. "We expect further commitments will follow after this initial tranche," Boeing said in a statement after the summit, the Times reported.

The deal marks a significant milestone for Boeing, which has long sought to re-enter the Chinese market, one of the world's most lucrative, with nearly one in seven planes in use today flying in China, the Times noted. The company's relationship with Beijing had deteriorated sharply after the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX following two fatal crashes less than five months apart that killed 346 people in total. China canceled an unfilled order of 29 737 MAX jets in 2020, citing the global coronavirus pandemic. Boeing resumed deliveries to China in 2024, but that recovery stalled last year amid the escalation of Trump's tariff policies, the Times reported. It remains unclear which aircraft models Beijing has agreed to purchase under the new deal.

The Boeing announcement was among the more concrete outcomes of the Beijing summit, which the Times described as yielding little in the way of major breakthroughs. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview with Bloomberg News after the summit on Friday, May 15, that he also expected China to agree to purchase more American agricultural products.

Deeper sources of friction, however, remained unresolved. China's commerce ministry spokesperson told reporters in Beijing on May 16, that the two sides had discussed specific tariff rates during the summit, and that China hoped the United States would "honor its commitments and ensure that" US tariff levels on Chinese goods would "not exceed the level stipulated" at a meeting last autumn in South Korea, where the two sides had agreed to a truce on tariff rates, according to the Times. Trump, for his part, has told reporters the two leaders "didn't discuss tariffs", a direct contradiction of the Chinese account, the Times reported, noting it was the second time a Chinese official had stated that tariffs were part of the Beijing discussions.

Neither the White House nor China's Ministry of Commerce had clarified the discrepancy at the time of publication.