BURSTPresident Trump is helping turn around Boeing’s fortunes after a string of safety lapses and scandals.
The president’s trip to the Middle East came with a new deal for Boeing, first reported by NewsNation and The Hill, when Qatari Airways bought 160 wide-body jets in an agreement that will help revive the company’s finances and create jobs in the U.S.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg joined Trump on some of his stops along the Middle East swing, and the two appeared to have a friendly relationship, following warnings from Ortberg that Trump’s tariff agenda would impact his company.
Ortberg, sitting at a table next to Trump, and Qatar Airways CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer, sitting next to the Emir, signed the deal to buy the jets, which is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs at the company’s major facilities located in Seattle, Wash., and Charleston, S.C.
Shares of Boeing soared in the days after the deal was signed, the latest in several major international purchases amid a thaw in Trump’s trade war.
Nicolas Owens, an equity analyst at Morningstar focused on the aerospace and defense sectors, said the new orders are a “vote of confidence” in Boeing after years of negative headlines for the company and concerns driven by Trump’s trade war.
Owens said while the Qatar Airlines deal and other major Boeing orders were likely in the works before Trump’s push, they still give U.S. trading partners a chance to improve relations with the president.
“In a way, it’s an easy win,” Owens said.
As the second-largest exporter of goods by dollar value, Boeing is both a crucial player in Trump’s push to reduce the U.S. trade deficit and a prime target for those looking to punish American industry.
While Boeing faces little financial pressure from tariffs on imports, Owens said, they have faced risks from a potential decline in U.S exports.
Just a few weeks ago, Ortberg told CNBC that China stopped taking delivery of its aircraft and that some 737 Max planes on their way to China were flown back to the U.S. The U.S. had imposed a 145 percent tariff on China at the time.
Washington and Beijing agreed Monday to take 115 percentage points off the tariffs they had imposed on each other’s exports, leaving American tariffs on China at 30 percent and Chinese tariffs on the U.S. at 10 percent.
The de-escalation was welcome news for companies like Boeing, though it is hoping for more deals, and for the stock market, which plummeted when Trump first announced his "reciprocal" tariffs that have since been paused for 90 days.
“Boeing has been a titan of American business especially in terms of exports, so it’s not surprising that they would rebound from an unusual nadir. However, they need the trade wars to calm down, as they are a very easy retaliatory target,” said a former President George W. Bush administration security official.
Trump was also able to secure a trade agreement with the United Kingdom last week, which included a $10 billion order for Boeing jets from the parent company of British Airways.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), whose state hosts Boeing’s headquarters, celebrated the win for U.S. supply chain jobs, warning against further disruptions from tariffs.
“It’s also a reminder why it’s time to sell to meet big demand instead of pursuing trade disruptions,” she said in a statement.
Despite some setbacks for the company in recent years, Boeing has a long history of being supported by both sides of the aisle, and the Trump deal reflects that.
“Boeing is a national champion whose global sales and success have been consistently supported by every administration, whether Democratic or Republican,” said Bruce Mehlman, a former Commerce assistant secretary.
Owens added that the American aerospace industry is “a success story” for U.S. exports, and one of the few where the U.S. sells more goods than it buys.
Even after years of negative headlines, Owens said Boeing has a backlog of nearly $500 billion in ordered planes, mainly newer, higher-tech models that the company is still testing for safety.
“Boeing is the biggest loser if everyone else had put tariffs on exports, and so that's why I think it's worth interpreting this as a vote of confidence from these countries that they will import these planes,” he said.
The deal was struck days after it was reported that the Qatari government is also planning to gift the U.S. government a luxury Boeing 747 to be used as a new Air Force One, a controversial move that Trump has defended in recent days.
That gift puts Boeing in the spotlight because the company was expected to produce a new Air Force One jet, but it’s been faced with a host of delays.
“It helps us out because … we have 40-year-old aircraft,” Trump said on Monday about the Qatari gift.