On April 15 and 16, 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online that China had halted or canceled all its orders of airplanes from the American aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
An X post of a news report on the topic was captioned:
?JUST IN: China has just CANCELED all jet orders from American manufacturer Boeing to in response to President Trump hitting the country with tariffs as high as 145% on Chinese goods.
China will also no longer purchase any aircraft-related equipment from American companies.
Examples of the claim also circulated on Facebook (archived), X (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived). Snopes readers messaged us to ask whether the claim was true.
The claim came from a Bloomberg News report that in turn relied on anonymous sources. Snopes doesn't rely on anonymous sources in our reporting, so it wasn't possible to independently verify Bloomberg's report. Boeing has not responded to a request for comment.
We reached out to the White House to confirm whether a post on Truth Social by U.S. President Donald Trump stating that China "just reneged on the big Boeing deal, saying that they will 'not take possession' of fully committed to aircraft" could be taken as official confirmation of the reported halting of orders, and await a reply.
We also reached out to the Commerce Department and the Chinese Embassy to ask whether they could confirm Bloomberg's report, and await a reply.
In its April 15 report titled "China Orders Boeing Jet Delivery Halt as Trade War Expands," Bloomberg News wrote:
China has ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing Co. jets as part of the tit-for-tat trade war that's seen US President Donald Trump levy tariffs of as high as 145% on Chinese goods, according to people familiar with the matter.
Beijing has also requested that Chinese carriers halt any purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US companies, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing matters that are private.
The report came amid a brewing trade war between the U.S. and China. China raised tariffs on imports of American goods to 125% on April 11, 2025. At the time of this writing, Chinese products faced tariffs of up to 245% when imported to the U.S., including a 125% "reciprocal tariff" and a 20% tariff tied to China's role in fentanyl production, according to the White House.
Tariffs generally create an extra fee that must be paid by a person or business importing products from a tariffed nation. This can result in increased product prices as businesses that pay import tariffs pass the costs on to consumers.
Financial impact would likely be small
Boeing's CEO Kelly Ortberg said on April 2, before Trump announced his initial "Liberation Day" tariffs, that the company was concerned about continued access to international markets given its high export rates. Testifying at the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about Boeing and safety, Ortberg said (at 1:17:38):
But I will say that 80% of the airplanes we deliver, the commercial airplanes we deliver, are outside of the United States so, free trade is very important to us. And 80% of the content of those airplanes, it comes out of the United States. So, we really are the ideal kind of an export company, where we're out selling internationally, it's creating U.S. jobs — long-term high value U.S. jobs — so, it's important that we continue to have access to that market, and that we don't get in a situation where certain markets become closed to us.
Boeing itself predicted in 2023 and 2024 that demand for new airplanes in China would continue to grow, with the country's fleet expected to more than double by 2043. The company said in 2024 that it was the "largest customer of China's aviation manufacturing industry."
According to Reuters' reporting, the Chinese airlines Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines planned to receive 45, 53 and 81 Boeing planes, respectively, between 2025 and 2027. It was unclear how Reuters sourced these numbers. We asked Boeing how many aircraft the reported Chinese order cancellations would affect and await a reply.
Bloomberg reported, citing aircraft production tracking website Aviation Flights, that 10 Boeing 737 Max planes were "preparing to enter Chinese airline fleets." It wasn't possible to independently verify this number as the necessary tracking function was a paid feature of Aviation Flights.
According to financial market analysts, should reports of China canceling or halting Boeing orders be true, the manufacturer would likely weather the storm.
Analysts from Bloomberg, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America said China was not "critical" to Boeing's development over the next few years and that any undelivered planes could likely be sold in other markets.
Ronald J. Epstein, a research analyst at Bank of America, said in a research note sent to Snopes:
In the event this is prolonged (or China decides to cancel orders), in our view - Boeing should have no difficulty reallocating the aircraft to other airlines that need additional capacity. We see India as a potential recipient.
There was "likely some hope that this is temporary and provides China a bargaining chip in any negotiation," Jefferies Group equity research analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said in a research note cited by Bloomberg.
Boeing reported revenue of $15.2 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024. The company had a backlog, meaning undelivered work, worth $512 billion that included orders for 5,500 commercial airplanes.
Without confirmation from sources who were willing to publicly state that China halted or canceled Boeing orders — the claim made in Bloomberg's report — it's difficult to verify whether the claim is true. It's unclear how many aircraft might be affected. Regardless, large exporters like Boeing will likely be watching carefully to see how the Trump administration's tariffs affect their ability to export to overseas economies. Even without exports to China, however, financial market analysts think Boeing will still produce its aircraft for other markets and could even redirect stock originally bound for China.
Snopes' tariffs tracker shows the status of the Trump administration's tariffs around the world.