A Trade War With China Would Be Bad News for Boeing

Throughout his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump railed against China and its trade practices, saying it’s sucked jobs out of the U.S. His prescription: to prosecute trade cases against the country for its “unfair subsidy behavior” and slap tariffs as high as 45 percent on its exports. If Trump makes good on his threat to spark a trade fight, chances are that the largest exporter in the U.S.—Boeing—will be one of its first casualties. “China will take a tit-for-tat approach then,” wrote the Chinese government-controlled Global Times in an editorial on Nov. 13. “A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus.”

Of course, Boeing wouldn’t be the only company to take a hit in the ensuing trade war. Sales to China of everything from American autos and iPhones to soybeans and corn would likely be curtailed or halted in retaliation, according to Global Times. But no company is poised to take it on the chin harder than the Chicago-based aerospace giant.