Boeing CEO is trying to find 50 buyers after Chinese airline cancels orders amid Trump’s trade war
Boeing CEO Kelly Autoberg said on Wednesday he doesn’t expect the USTrade war with ChinaIt will not prevent the company from happening a financial recovery or prevent Chinese airlines from reaching delivery targets for aircraft that have refused to accept Boeing.
Speaking about CNBC, Autoberg said Boeing has three passenger planes ready for delivery to China, but two of them have returned to Seattle.
Beijing has raised import taxAmerican products to 125%This month, US President Donald Trump retaliates to raise tariffs on productsMade in China at 145%. China’s tariffs are more than twice the passenger jets sold by Boeing, the largest US exporter, for tens of millions of dollars.
The company had planned to complete 50 orders for Chinese airlines this year, but Ortberg said Boeing is “actively evaluating” the options for diverting these jetliners to other interested buyers.
“That’s a disappointing situation, but with many customers hoping for near-term terminal delivery, we plan to redirect supply to stable demand, and we don’t intend to continue building aircraft for customers who don’t take them,” he said during a conference call with analysts.
StandoffAccording to investment banking company Jeffries, the threat to Boeing between Washington and Beijing was less of a threat than 10 years ago.
The company’s operations in China plummeted in 2019, when the country became the first to build all of Boeing.737’s largest planeFollowing a pair of fatal crashes346 people killedThey are less than five months apart. Chinese airlines did not resume maximum flights until January 2023, much later than other airlines in other countries.
China currently accounts for around 10% of the $500 billion worth of backlog Boeing is expected to take over the next decade, Brian West said.
West said that around 70% of commercial aircraft the company expects to deliver in 2025 will be aimed at international customers. If tariffs cause retaliation and postponement of countries other than ChinaAccept the plane“we would expect to see additional pressure,” he said.
“Given our position as a key US exporter, free trade policy across commercial aerospace remains very important to us,” West said.
The pursuit of tariffs to counter what he describes as an unfair trade policy in other countries comes when Boeing starts turning pages with a series of issues that include panels blown away from the 737 Max in flight.Labor AttackProduction was closed last year. The company saw itThe revenueInventory value drops sharply.
Ortberg said the first quarter financial results reported by Boeing on Wednesday showed the company’s recovery plan “is in full swing and shows signs that it is early but effective.”
Boeing recorded an adjusted loss of 49 cents per share with revenues of $19.5 billion. The results exceeded the expectations of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research, seeking a loss of $1.54 per share on revenue of $192.9 billion.
The company also significantly reduced cash burns to about $22.9 billion from around $4 billion in the previous year’s period.
Boeing, based in Arlington, Virginia, shares rose 6.6% in afternoon trading.
On April 2, Trump announced the swept tariffs that sparked panic in financial markets and caused fear of a recession. presidentRetains import tax for 90 daysBut I’ve already increased himSudden tariffs on China.
US Treasury SecretaryScott BettingI said inspeechOn Tuesday, the situation was unsustainable and he was hoping for a “escalation” in the trade war between the two biggest economies in the world.
This story was originally introduced Fortune.com