President Donald Trump chose the aerospace giant to build the next generation of aviation control platforms.
Boeing CEO Kelly Autoberg said Wednesday that he will work to protect the aerospace giant’s turnaround from the effects of the trade war between the US and its trading partners, particularly China.
Prior to the company’s quarterly revenue announcement, Autoberg sent a letter to Boeing employees outlining the company’s progress in four areas of its recovery plan.
“We are closely watching the development of world trade, but combined with our strong start to the year and the $50 trillion backlog for our products and services, we have the flexibility we need to navigate this environment,” Ortberg writes.
During a Q&A session on the revenue call, Autoberg told analysts, “Even though we expect the situation in China to take away some of the headroom we’ve built with a strong first quarter delivery, I feel really good about the overall plan this year.”
China begins to return Boeing aircraft to the US
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg testified before the Senate on commerce, science and transportation on April 2, 2025 on the issue of production quality. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Autoberg said China is the only country that has encountered problems with aircraft delivery due to Trump administration’s tariffs, but the company is monitoring potential retaliation by Europe and is in regular contact with the White House.
“I don’t think we’ve passed the day we’re not engaged to anyone in the administration, including the Cabinet Gazette and Potus himself,” Autoberg said in relation to President Donald Trump.
| Ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ba | Boeing Co. | 173.42 | +11.06 |
+6.81% |
Boeing pays 10% tax on imports from countries such as Japan and Italy, but is expected to recover some of these costs when the aircraft is exported.
Boeing CEO says the company has not yet increased production, vows to “get it right”
China Eastern Airlines’ Boeing 777 will be on display at Los Angeles International Airport on March 28, 2025. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
in Comments on CNBCAutoberg said it sent back two of the three aircraft that China had in the country as China stopped accepting them due to trade disputes. Boeing had expected to send around 50 aircraft to China this year, but Ortberg said the company will be “pretty practical” about how it will approach sales to China during the conflict.
“For planes that have not yet been built, we are considering redirecting them to other customers,” Ortberg told the outlet. “We call the planes that have been built remarketing. We have a lot of customers looking for Max aircraft.”
This view shows the largest fuselage of a Boeing 737 on December 5, 2024, above a train carriage in Seattle. (Reuters/Matt Mills McKnight)
In 2024, Boeing struggled with manufacturing quality issues, prompting a strike that affected production late last year, with regulators limiting the production of its top-selling 737 largest aircraft.
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Ortberg added that the company is working carefully to increase production volumes of its Boeing 737 Max aircraft this year, which it calls the “key to cash generation,” and that Boeing hopes to run more flights of its troubled Starliner space program later this year.
Reuters contributed to this report.
