A Boeing Co jet intended for use by a Chinese airline landed back at the planemaker’s US production hub yesterday, a victim of the tit-for-tat bilateral tariffs launched by US President Donald Trump in his global trade offensive.
The 737 MAX, which was meant for China’s Xiamen Airlines, landed at Seattle’s Boeing Field at 6:11pm, according to a Reuters witness. It was painted with the XiamenAir livery.
The jet, which made refueling stops in Guam and Hawaii on its 8,000km return journey, was one of several 737 MAX jets waiting at Boeing’s completion center in Zhoushan, China, for final work and delivery to a Chinese carrier.
Photo: REUTERS
Trump this month raised baseline tariffs on Chinese imports to 145 percent. In retaliation, China has imposed a 125 percent tariff on US goods. A Chinese airline taking delivery of a Boeing jet could be crippled by the tariffs, given that a new 737 MAX has a market value of around US$55 million, according to aviation consultancy IBA Group Ltd.
It is not clear which party made the decision for the aircraft to return to the US. Boeing and XiamenAir did not respond to requests for comment.
The return of the 737 MAX, Boeing’s best-selling model, is the latest sign of disruption to new aircraft deliveries from a breakdown in the aerospace industry’s decades-old duty-free status.
Confusion over changing tariffs could leave many aircraft deliveries in limbo, with some airline CEOs saying they would defer delivery of planes rather than pay duties.
Moreover, commercial plane prices, already lifted in recent years due to pandemic supply chain shocks, are poised to climb further as Boeing and Airbus SE are buffeted by trade tariffs.
“Compared with 2018, prices for commercial jets have risen by around 30 percent,” an aviation expert told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The US and European aerospace giants have grappled with higher expenses for primary materials such as titanium, components and energy, as well as overall labor cost pressures.
Richard Aboulafia, managing director at consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory LLC, said items that have inflated “at a particularly high rate” include castings, forgings and “anything titanium... especially since all that Russian capacity has been cut off from the US and, to a lesser extent, from Europe.”
Aboulafia estimates prices for materials and equipment have risen 40 percent since 2021. That was before Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum, which are used in planes.
“It’s kind of ironic, raw materials were not a problem, but Donald Trump is determined to make them a problem,” Aboulafia said.
Inflation in aviation has been accelerating, and “that’s only going to get worse with these tariffs that are being imposed,” Aircraft Value News editor-in-chief John Persinos said. “These tariffs are disastrous.”
Additional reporting by AFP
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