US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the US-Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In the second instalment of a series examining how rivalry, interdependence and geopolitical crises are reshaping the relationship between the two powers, we weigh the odds of a major deal for Boeing aircraft after nearly a decade without a significant order from Chinese airlines.
Shanghai Airlines was flying high in 2018.
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One year after US President Donald Trump’s first visit to Beijing, the China Eastern Airlines subsidiary had expanded its fleet of Boeing jets to 100 with its first state-of-the-art 787 Dreamliner widebody, signalling ambitions to spread its wings across the globe.
But its expansion was thrown into a tailspin soon after by a perfect storm: Covid-19, safety issues with the US planemaker’s 737 Max series and, more consequentially, cooling ties between Beijing and Washington.
Now, only 87 ageing planes fly with Shanghai Airlines livery. The carrier remains hamstrung by China’s extended pause on major Boeing purchases, a freeze that has lasted nearly a decade.
That turbulence has also found its way home. In North Charleston, South Carolina, the production base for the 787 and a Trump election stronghold, workers reckon with the economic cost of the prolonged purchase drought and dream of a China trade breakthrough.
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This month, Trump is scheduled to make his second trip to China, his first since winning a second term. Could it result in a lift for Shanghai Airlines and new deals for the American planemaker?