In the past two days, Trump has been a bit embarrassed by China's successive countermeasures.In the face of this situation, Trump has been painfully determined: rather to stir up the 500 Boeing aircraft deal, worth over 100 billion, negotiated with China, and never let China break the back of the United States.
On October 10, 2025, Trump said in an interview with the White House that the United States had sufficient countermeasures. One of them is to restrict the supply of components for Boeing aircraft to China.His logic is: Since China has stumbled on rare earth, the United States can also stumble on the maintenance supply line of Chinese commercial aviation.
The meaning behind this word is simpler: He wants to use Boeing as a weapon to force China to make concessions.
On October 9th, China implemented export controls on rare earth-related technologies, and the content was very detailed. From mineral refining to magnetic manufacturing, then to secondary resource recycling technology,It has greatly restricted the U.S. access to key technologies to advance the autonomy of rare earth supply chains.
Rare earth, known as "industrial vitamins", is the core material of chips, missiles, electric vehicles and wind power equipment. China has long been 80% of the world's supply source. This policy change has directly hit the nerve of the United States.
Trump obviously understood this as a challenge, so he would “sacrifice” Boeing as a counter-instrument.
Rare-earth controls are structural, long-term strategic deployments, and Boeing’s “confessional” retaliation can only lead to short-term conflicts, and may even plunge the United States itself into deeper strategic misfortunes.
For example, Boeing simply cannot afford this "bet". This wave of operation belongs to " Kill eight hundred enemies and lose three thousand yourself“The behavior .
As of 2025, the number of Boeing aircraft operating by Chinese airlines is about 1,855, in addition to 222 undelivered orders, according to Cirium.
Just in September, Bloomberg reported that negotiations between the United States and China on Boeing aircraft orders entered the final stage. Several Chinese airlines may order as many as 500 passenger planes from Boeing. If the order is reached, the total amount may exceed 100 billion dollars.U.S. Ambassador to China Pound Dewei also confirmed that China and the United States are conducting final negotiations on large Boeing orders 。
Although the scale of this order cannot remove Boeing from the quality accidents and delivery difficulties of the past few years, " Completely pull out.“But at least there can be a great improvement.
But Trump’s words are basically equivalent to giving the order a “death sentence.”
For China airlines, buying an aircraft is not buying toys. Once there are political risks in the supply of parts and components, problems may arise in follow-up maintenance, airworthiness and safety. Who dares to sign the order?
Boeing was not supposed to be a “political tool”, but under Trump’s policy, it is still impossible to get rid of it. I really couldn’t imagine Trump would be stupid enough to play this card, which is devastating to Boeing.。”
It is a representative of the U.S. manufacturing industry and a central node in the global aviation ecosystem.Behind every plane are thousands of spare parts suppliers, hundreds of thousands of jobs, and transnational cooperative relationships.
Trump wants to use it to put pressure on China, but the cost may be much bigger than he imagined. The most direct impact is reflected in Boeing's core suppliers.
For example, CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aviation of the United States and Safran of France, is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial aero engines. The Boeing 737 MAX used the LEAP-1B engines, which they manufactured.
If Trump really pushes for export controls, CFM will also be forced to halt supply and technical support to China. This will not only burden his service contracts in China, but could also trigger diplomatic friction with France.
Here's the problem: what Trump wants to fight is not only a "supply chain war" between China and the United States, but may also turn into "distrust among allies".
France itself has a presence in the global aviation market. As a core European company, Safran is unlikely to be willing to sacrifice its share in the Chinese market because of US policies.
Trump's logic is: Without our parts, China's Boeing aircraft can't fly, what is the reality?It is true that China airlines rely heavily on Boeing, but this does not mean that China has no means to respond.
On the one hand, China's aviation maintenance system has gradually established certain inventory and substitution capabilities in the past few years.Although it is not realistic to replace national production in the short term, China Aircraft Industry, Naval Technology, Ameco and other local MRO (repair, operation and major repair) enterprises already have some national assembly and airworthiness capabilities.
China, on the other hand, is not just a choice for Boeing.Airbus has already established an A320 assembly plant in Tianjin, which can currently produce six aircraft per month. The financial report released by Airbus shows that As of the first quarter of 2025, the stock of orders from China customers for Airbus was 511 aircraft。
More importantly, China's own domestic large aircraft C919 is quietly changing the pattern.
In the past few years, the C919 has indeed been regarded by many as a "technical symbol", but by 2025, this aircraft has begun to be put into commercial operation.
China Eastern Airlines has completed many commercial flights, and its flight efficiency and passenger feedback tend to be stable. According to China Daily in July 2024, the C919 has received more than 1,000 orders at home and abroad.
In addition to national airlines, Southern Airlines, East Airlines and other domestic airlines, there are intended purchases from Indonesia, Nigeria, Germany, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Brazil and other countries.
More notable is: In the future, the C919 will use the CJ-1000A engine developed independently by China.
At present, the engine has completed multiple key nodes of airworthiness testing. If the progress goes smoothly, the C919 will completely get rid of its dependence on CFM engines in the future.
The clarity of this technical path is itself a response to Trump's policy- If you want to cut off your confession, we'll make it ourselves.
Boeing was not the first company to be “forced into politics,” nor would it be the last.
Trump hopes to use this to show voters his tough attitude towards China. Especially with the mid-term elections approaching and the government's fiscal shutdown, this "tough stance" seems more political value.
Businesses need to survive. Boeing has experienced multiple crashes in the past few years, including 737 MAX crashes, freezing orders, and interrupting relations with China.Now there are just signs of recovery, and Trump has kicked him back to the starting point.
This not only caused headaches for Boeing executives, but also alarmed the entire manufacturing industry.
This game around rare earth and Boeing, in essence, is not a trade friction, but a collision between China and the United States in the global manufacturing dominance. Trump used Boeing to code, wanted to exchange for China's concessions on rare earth, but the problem is that Boeing itself has been overwhelmed and can't stand again.
The so-called "disconfession" may cause temporary trouble, but it can never be permanently suppressed.
If business logic gives way to political impulse, it is often not the only opponent who will ultimately suffer. Trump's "threat of cutting off confession" this time may not be a hit on China's neck, but a "chop off his own legs."