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
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
TECH RELIANCE: Growth is increasingly reflecting an unequal K-shaped distribution, where technology sectors outperform and other industries struggle, an expert said Standard Chartered Bank has significantly raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth to 9.5 percent this year, up from 7.6 percent previously, citing surging artificial intelligence (AI) demand driving exports, semiconductor production and investment. The upgrade reflects a sustained AI supercycle that continues to fuel demand for advanced chips and technology infrastructure, which form the backbone of Taiwan’s exports, the bank said in a report this week. “We raise our 2026 growth forecast to reflect a much stronger-than-expected first-quarter GDP figure,” Standard Chartered senior economist for greater China and Asia Tommy Wu (胡東安) said in the report. Driven largely by a 35.3 percent
RSS