Boeing could secure one of its largest aircraft orders in years during the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, where trade and industrial agreements are expected to play a central role in negotiations.
According to multiple reports in the U.S. and China, Boeing is pursuing a potential package involving up to 500 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft plus around 100 widebody jets, including 787 Dreamliners and 777X aircraft.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg is expected to join a delegation of major American business leaders traveling with Trump to China beginning on May 14. The group reportedly includes executives from companies such as Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, BlackRock and Citigroup.
Ortberg recently acknowledged that Boeing sees the summit as an important opportunity but cautioned that any agreement depends heavily on political relations between Washington and Beijing.
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“It’s a big number,” Ortberg told analysts during Boeing’s earnings call while declining to specify the size of the potential order.
China has largely avoided placing major Boeing orders since 2017, a period marked by the 737 MAX grounding, trade disputes, the pandemic and deteriorating geopolitical relations between the world’s two largest economies.
Chinese state-owned airlines instead expanded purchases from Airbus while Boeing also struggled with production disruptions and safety concerns after a series of crises involving the 737 MAX and 787 programs.
Even so, the aviation relationship between the two countries remains deeply interconnected.
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While Boeing cannot afford to remain absent from one of the world’s largest aviation markets, China still depends heavily on Western aerospace technology, particularly engines, avionics and critical systems used in domestic aircraft programs such as the COMAC C909 and C919.
The C919, China’s answer to the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX families, relies extensively on foreign suppliers including CFM International engines and Western flight systems despite Beijing’s efforts to expand its aerospace independence.
A large Boeing order would therefore carry political and industrial symbolism beyond commercial aviation itself, potentially signaling a temporary easing in tensions between the two countries.
Still, uncertainty remains high ahead of the summit.
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Relations between Washington and Beijing continue to fluctuate amid disputes involving Taiwan, export controls, artificial intelligence technologies, tariffs and the aftermath of the recent conflict involving Iran and Gulf countries.
The Chinese government has also historically used aircraft purchases as diplomatic leverage during negotiations with the United States.
The last major Boeing order announced during a Trump visit to China came in 2017, when Boeing and China Aviation Supplies Holding signed agreements covering 300 aircraft valued at more than $37 billion at list prices.
Chinese airlines remain significant operators of the 737 MAX despite the political tensions. More than a dozen carriers currently fly the aircraft, including Air China, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Shanghai Airlines.
