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President Donald Trump said that Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to order 200 Boeing jets during their high-level meeting in Beijing.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump described his talks with the Chinese leader as “very good” and said the aircraft commitment exceeded Boeing’s expectations.
“One thing [Xi] agreed to today: he’s going to order 200 jets. That’s a big thing. Boeing — 200 big ones. That’s a lot of jobs. It’s a lot. Boeing wanted 150, he got 200,” Trump said.
Terms of the agreement, including delivery timelines and aircraft models, were not immediately disclosed.
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Trump arrived in China Wednesday alongside a delegation of top American business leaders for meetings with Chinese officials and executives. The visit marks Trump’s first trip to the country since 2017 and comes amid mounting tensions over trade, artificial intelligence, Taiwan and the fallout from the war with Iran.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg was among those executives and recently said the trip represented “a meaningful opportunity” for the aerospace giant.
While Ortberg declined to specify the number of aircraft under discussion during a recent analyst call, he said he was “highly confident” that if Trump reached an agreement with Xi, the deal would “include some aircraft orders.”
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Bloomberg previously reported that China was considering purchasing roughly 500 Boeing 737 Max aircraft to meet growing airline demand.
Boeing shares fell more than 4% in Thursday trading after the reported order total fell short of analysts’ expectations, according to Reuters.
China last announced a major Boeing purchase during Trump’s 2017 visit to Beijing, agreeing to buy 300 aircraft from the U.S. manufacturer, the outlet reported.
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Boeing and European rival Airbus have aggressively competed for aircraft sales in China, one of the world’s largest aviation markets.
Other executives traveling with the U.S. delegation included Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Citi CEO Jane Fraser, and Cargill CEO Brian Sikes.
Reuters, Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Efrat Lachter, as well as FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
