China has reportedly ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing jets, the latest move in its tit-for-tat trade war with the US.
The Chinese government has asked carriers to stop purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from American companies, according to a Bloomberg News article, which cited people familiar with the matter.
The order was reported to have come after the country raised its retaliatory tariffs on US goods to 125% on Friday in response to Donald Trump’s levies on Chinese imports totalling 145%. Beijing was also said to be considering ways to support airlines that lease Boeing jets and are facing higher costs.
About 10 Boeing 737 Max jets are being prepared to join Chinese airlines, and if delivery paperwork and payment on some of them were completed before Chinese ”reciprocal” tariffs came into effect, the planes may be allowed to enter the country, sources told Bloomberg.
The restriction marks a serious blow for Boeing and other manufacturers trying to navigate the escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
The group chief executive of the budget airline Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, has said his company could delay taking deliveries of Boeing aircraft if they become more expensive. He told the Financial Times that Ryanair was due to receive a further 25 aircraft from Boeing from August but would not need the planes until around March or April 2026. “We might delay them and hope that common sense will prevail,” O’Leary said.
Shares in Boeing have been buffeted by worries about the impact of trade tariffs, as well as complaints from some shareholders that the company has underinvested in its engineering.
The company has lost 7% of its market value since the start of the year, and in March its chief financial officer, Brian West, said tariffs could hit availability of parts from its suppliers.
The rival European plane manufacturer Airbus said on Tuesday that it was watching the evolving situation on trade tariffs. Its chief executive, Guillaume Faury, told shareholders the company was having problems receiving components from the American supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which was weighing on the production of its A350 and A220 jetliners.
The chaotic introduction of Donald Trump’s tariffs has triggered volatility in the stock market since 2 April, although there has been a tentative recovery this week after the US president announced he was temporarily suspending planned tariffs on imports of smartphones and laptops.
The S&P 500, the American blue-chip index of stocks, ticked up 0.7% in early trading on Tuesday, but was still down about 7% so far this year.
There remains a great deal of uncertainty around possible tariffs on computer chips and pharmaceutical imports, with the Trump administration initiating an investigation into the impact of trade in these areas on American national security. Meanwhile, the chip designer Nvidia has announced it will build up to $500bn (£378bn) worth of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US over the next four years.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei index rose by 0.8% on Tuesday and South Korea’s Kospi by 0.9%, with strong gains for carmakers such as Honda, Suzuki and Hyundai, after Trump signalled there would be help for the industry.
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On Monday the president told reporters in Washington he was “looking at something to help some of the car companies”, and added that carmakers “need a little bit of time” before they can start to build parts in the US rather than in countries such as Canada and Mexico.
The US administration previously announced a 25% tariff on all imports of foreign cars, excluding some exemptions for Mexico and Canada. Analysts at the advisory firm Telemetry predicted the move could result in 1.8m fewer car sales in the US and Canada this year.
Shares also rose in Europe, with London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index and the more domestic-focused FTSE 250 rising by 0.8% and 1% respectively after optimistic comments from the US vice-president, JD Vance, about a possible trade deal with the UK. In an interview on Tuesday with the website Unherd, Vance said he believed both sides could come to a mutually beneficial agreement.
“We’re certainly working very hard with Keir Starmer’s government” on a trade deal, he said.
“There’s a real cultural affinity. And, of course, fundamentally, America is an Anglo country. I think there’s a good chance that, yes, we’ll come to a great agreement that’s in the best interest of both countries.”
Boeing was approached for comment.
