Trump’s ‘$200 Billion’ Boeing-Qatar Deal Worth Less Than Half What He Claims

It’s difficult to imagine that Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg was pleased that his company was caught in the crossfire of President Trump’s ill-advised tariff war with China. The President signed a trade agreement with Qatar on Wednesday to seemingly seal a $200 billion order with Qatar Airways for widebody Boeing airliners. The deal might make up for jeopardizing the American aviation giant’s future in Asia, but that figure stated by Trump is incorrect by a massive margin. The correct value is $96 billion, confirmed by the White House later that day.

Boeing secured its largest-ever order with Qatar Airways buying 130 787 Dreamliners and 30 soon-to-be-launched 777X planes. The state-owned carrier took out an option for 50 more planes. The option’s model will either be the 787 or 777X if Qatar takes up the offer at a later date. During the ceremonial signing with the Emir of Qatar, Trump couldn’t resist playing up how big a deal this was for Boeing. He casually chatted with Ortberg, sitting in the audience, over the deal’s price tag. He asked Boeing’s head if it was $140 or $160 billion before just correcting Ortberg and saying it was “over $200 billion.”

It’s an absurd number of jets considering that Qatar Airways currently has 230 planes in its fleet and is still waiting on 85 aircraft from previously placed Boeing orders. While Boeing’s production backlog is seven years long, it’s difficult to imagine that a Gulf carrier would need a 500-plane fleet by the mid-2030s.

Confirming the deal’s actual $93 billion value is a bit of a headscratcher. Split across the 160 planes, it’s roughly $600 million per aircraft. The list price for the most expensive Boeing 787 is just under $295 million. This is the opposite of what you would expect from an order this size. Airlines tend to place bulk orders to save money, as manufacturers are willing to sell planes below list price to secure big deals and keep production lines churning out planes for the foreseeable future. Qatar is seemingly overpaying.

The logic that Trump used to attach “$200 billion” to this trade deal is even more baffling and has nothing to do with Boeing. The agreement between the United States and Qatar didn’t just include planes. The deal also included $106.5 billion in contracts concerning nearly 40 other projects for engineering firm McDermott, tech company Parsons and computing company Quantinuum. Bundling all of this together as a marquee win for Boeing was just spin to exaggerate this one victory in a sea of trade disasters.

The credited author of “The Art of the Deal” provoked commercial chaos by imposing so-called reciprocal tariffs last month. Industry experts predicted that Boeing would be relegated to selling planes in its domestic market. Those predictions seemingly became reality after Chinese carriers began cancelling their Boeing orders, literally sending newly-built aircraft back across the Pacific Ocean. While the 145% tariffs have been put on hold, the damage has already been done.

President Trump’s trip to the Middle East has been unforgettable, and it isn’t done yet. The visit began with a stop in Saudi Arabia, where the royal family provided a mobile McDonald’s to satisfy the Commander-in-Chief’s fast-food urges. The truck’s exterior was decked out with the Golden Arches logo and brown slatted siding to look like a rolling franchise location. The Qatar stop took place in the aftermath of the Qatari royal family offering a Boeing 747 as a gift to Trump for use as a replacement Air Force One. The trip’s final stop will be the United Arab Emirates and no one can guess how this could go even further off the rails.