US President Donald Trump has warned that the United States may impose export controls on Boeing aircraft parts in response to China’s restrictions on rare earth mineral exports.
Speaking during a media briefing at the White House on October 10, Trump was asked what else besides computer software could be on the table for export controls. “Oh, a lot more,” he said. “We have aeroplanes and aeroplane parts.” He added: “They have a lot of Boeing planes, and they need parts, and lots of things like that.”
Trump was reacting to China's dramatic expansion of its rare earths export controls on October 9. Reuters reports it added five new elements and extra scrutiny for semiconductor users. This comes ahead of talks between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping due to take place at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea from October 31 to November 1, 2025.
According to Trump, the US government did not expect China's latest move. “It was shocking,” he exclaimed. “Where did that come from? That was right out of the blue.” He added: “This is not something that I instigated [...] they didn't really aim it at us; they aimed it at the whole world.”
Trump has often leveraged Boeing in his push to reshape global trade, while in April Beijing ordered Chinese airlines to stop taking deliveries of Boeing aircraft amid trade tensions, even as the manufacturer secured major overseas orders linked to Trump’s diplomacy.
Boeing is in talks to sell up to 500 aircraft to China, but its overall dependency on China has significantly decreased over the last years.
China has 29 scheduled airlines operating a total of 1,715 Boeing aircraft, with 144 outstanding deliveries, namely two B737-7s, 117 B737-8s, ten B737-10s, and fifteen B787-9s, according to ch-aviation data. Most Chinese airlines do not disclose their orders until delivery, which means that the real number of commitments is likely higher.
Air China alone operates 208 Boeing aircraft but has only one confirmed outstanding delivery, for a B737-8, while it has 100 Chinese-made C919s on order. China Southern Airlines operates 254 Boeing aircraft with 65 B737-8s on order plus 94 of the COMAC C919s, ch-aviation data reveals. Hainan Airlines operates 187 Boeing jets with eight B737-8s due for delivery, while Xiamen Airlines's fleet includes 158 Boeing aircraft with one B737-8 on order. China Eastern Airlines operates 168 Boeing jets with two B737-8s and four B787-9s, plus ninety-five C919s on order.
Any export ban could also affect CFM International, the joint venture between the US's GE Aerospace and France's Safran Aircraft Engines, that makes engines for the B737 MAX, B777, and B787 models.
Beijing has been working to grow its own aerospace industry with the C919, but US export curbs on Western parts have slowed production. As of September 2025, COMAC has delivered a total of five C919 aircraft, according to ch-aviation data: two to Air China, one to China Eastern Airlines, and two to China Southern Airlines.
Boeing has declined to comment.
