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 report from Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter.
The order from Beijing reportedly came after it announced its retaliatory tariffs of 125% on US goods over the weekend.
Beijing is considering ways to support airlines that lease Boeing jets and are facing higher costs, according to the report.
About 10 Boeing 737 Max jets are being prepared to join Chinese airlines, and if delivery paperwork and payment on some of them was completed before Chinese reciprocal tariffs came into effect, the planes may be allowed to enter the country, people close to the matter told Bloomberg News.
The restriction marks a serious blow for Boeing and other manufacturers trying to navigate the escalating trade war between the two biggest economies.
The boss of the budget airline Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, has said his company could delay taking deliveries of Boeing aircrafts if they become more expensive.
O’Leary 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,” he told the FT.
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 chaotic introduction of Donald Trump’s tariffs has triggered volatility in the stock market since 2 April, though there has been a tentative recovery this week after the president suggested he would suspend planned tariffs on imports of smartphones and laptops.
The S&P 500, the American blue-chip index of stocks, ticked up by 0.8% on Monday but was still down about 8% so far this year.
Overnight in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 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.
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.
Boeing was approached for comment.
