With the Trump administration not backing off against a trade war with China, the Asian nation has begun sending back Boeing (BA) planes that it ordered from the U.S. after being hit with tariffs of 145%.
The Chinese government classified Trump’s actions as aggression “to the point of losing rationality” and, at the start of April, raised its tariffs on goods sold to the U.S. to 125% in response.
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With planes that Chinese airlines ordered from manufacturers like Boeing (BA) and Airbus (EADSF) now subject to tariffs, China has started sending those planes back to the U.S.
Flight tracker data shows that one Boeing 737 Max 8 originally slated for use by regional carrier Xiamen Airlines arrived back at Boeing’s Seattle headquarters at 6:11 p.m. on April 20, while a second model arrived in the U.S. region of Guam on April 21.
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Flight trackers capture Boeing planes being brought back from China
Xiamen Airlines confirmed to Reuters that the planes had been sent back but declined to comment further on the reasons for this. Boeing also declined to comment on the aircrafts’ return.
The news wire also reports that, just before the first wave of tariffs was announced on April 2, Boeing flew three new 737 Max 8 aircraft Seattle to the eastern Chinese city of Zhoushan that the local airline had ordered in anticipation of further business. Xiamen currently has 22 Boeing 737 MAX 8 narrowbodies in its fleet and awaits the delivery of seven others that will now likely never make it there.
The three recently delivered planes were undergoing the interior installments and final detail checks at the Zhoushan completion center when the change in foreign policy prompted their return.
Image source: Shutterstock
‘More expected to follow, according to people familiar with the matter’
“Even more seriously for Boeing’s near-term pipeline of shipments and underscoring the supremacy of geopolitics over commercial agreements, another Chinese airline that had planned to take delivery through a Chinese lessor is walking away from its commitment […] with more expected to follow, according to two people familiar with the matter,” aviation outlet The Air Current, which was the first to break the news of the planes’ return, wrote in its report.
There has, as of April 21, been no official statement on the planes’ location from either Beijing or Washington.
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Separate reports from Bloomberg show that the Chinese government has also instructed local airlines to begin shipping back aircraft parts that came from the U.S.
Several analysts and sources close to the administration said that Trump is expecting China to renege on the tariffs and reach out to him with a deal. The Chinese government has repeatedly stood firm in saying it would not negotiate unless a more respectful approach was taken and that the U.S. depends more on Chinese goods than the reverse — U.S. imports from the country totaled $438.9 billion in 2024.
“Oh, we’re going to make a deal,” Trump said from the White House in response to a reporter’s question on the tariffs on April 17. “I think we are going to make a very good deal with China.”
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