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China is halting all jet orders from American manufacturer Boeing as a retaliation to President Donald Trump's tariffs levied on the country, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Bloomberg News on Tuesday (April 15).
Additionally, Chinese carriers were notified by the government not to purchase any aircraft-related equipment from American companies amid the tariffs, which are as high as 145%, the sources said. China had previously retaliated with its own 125% tariffs on American goods over the weekend, which itself would already double the cost of aircraft and parts made in the U.S.
Boeing shares dropped by 3% in premarket trading on Tuesday amid a pause in shipments to China, which serves as one of the company's biggest growth markets despite the strong presence of its rival company, Airbus, within the country. The Chinese government is reportedly attempting to provide assistance to airlines that lease Boeing jets and is facing higher maintenance costs, Bloomberg News reported.
China had already ceased shipments of rare earth metals and magnets processed exclusively with the country to the U.S., which are crucial to the production of items like cell phones and fighter jets, during its ongoing trade war with the Trump administration. Beijing is reportedly responsible for supplying 90% of the rare earth metals and magnets, which are "in everything," to the rest of the world.
Xia Baolong, a senior Chinese official overseeing Honk Kong and Macao, publicly referred to Trump's tariffs as "brutally unreasonable" during a televised speech.
“The US isn’t after our tariffs but our very survival,” Xia said via the New York Post. “The US has repeatedly contained and suppressed Hong Kong… and this will eventually backfire on itself.”
“Let those peasants in the United States wail in front of the 5,000 years of Chinese civilization,” he added.
Baolong's comments came after Vice President JD Vance had previously claimed that the U.S. borrowed from “Chinese peasants to buy things those Chinese peasants manufacture" earlier this month.