Sep 24, 2026 (PRISM News via COMTEX) --
Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) is heading into Thursday’s summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping with lower expectations. Rather than chasing a new mega-order, the planemaker is now trying to lock in the provisional 200-jet agreement it reached in May, according to people briefed on the talks and cited by Reuters. Negotiations are still in flux, and BA shares rose 1.1% in early trading.
Key Points
- Boeing reportedly wants to finalize its May deal to sell 200 jets to China, rather than win commitments for hundreds more.
- Before the spring summit, officials had discussed an order of up to 500 aircraft.
- China is expected to need about 9,000 new jets by 2045, more than any other region.
- The US and China agreed to extend their trade truce by two months beyond November 10.
A Market Boeing Can’t Afford to Lose
China is the biggest growth opportunity in commercial aviation. Even so, Boeing was largely shut out of Chinese orders from 2017 until this year. Meanwhile, European rival Airbus SE (EPA: AIR) kept gaining market share there. The May deal, struck at the first Trump-Xi summit of the year in Beijing, finally put Boeing back in the running.
After that summit, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg called the 200-jet order an “initial tranche” and said reopening the market was the real win. As a result, investors expected a second, larger order this week. Last week, however, Ortberg played down that possibility.
Aircraft Take a Back Seat to Bigger Issues
Analysts now see the existing order as the realistic best case. “It will be a victory if the 200 airplane order can be saved,” said Richard Aboulafia of AeroDynamic Advisory.
Jet sales also aren’t at the top of Washington’s or Beijing’s agenda. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, negotiators are focused on:
- extending the trade truce
- AI safeguards
- arms sales to Taiwan
- soybean and rare-earth trade
For now, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has confirmed the two-month extension of the truce, which gives both sides more time to work toward a broader trade deal.
What Investors Should Watch
For Boeing (NYSE: BA), the key question is whether this summit firms up the 200-jet order or leaves it unresolved. A finalized deal would confirm that Boeing has re-entered China. On the other hand, more delays would hand Airbus more room in the world’s most important growth market for aircraft.
The post Boeing Scales Back China Hopes as Trump-Xi Summit Arrives appeared first on PRISM MarketView.
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