On June 9, 2025, a plane landed in China. That’s actually a pretty big deal. Specifically, a brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 landed in Zhoushan, the site of the American planemaker’s completion center for the country. According to Reuters, it’s the first new plane to do so since April, when U.S. President Donald Trump raised tariffs on China to a whopping 145%, and China then retaliated with 125% tariffs of its own.
That would make new planes, which aren’t exactly cheap in the first place, prohibitively expensive. And even if Chinese airlines wanted to eat the costs, they were apparently legally prohibited, too, after Beijing put out a directive to stop buying American-made planes altogether. Call it air-to-air combat in the trade war.
However, after negotiations in May, tariffs were dropped to (a still historically high) 30% by the U.S. and 10% by China. This lull in the trade war seems to have assuaged Chinese authorities enough to allow plane deliveries to resume.
China’s first new American plane in months
This particular 737 MAX, N230BE, might be feeling a bit of déjà vu, because it actually flew to Zhoushan back in April, just before tariffs started hitting triple digits. Painted in the livery of Xiamen Airlines, it was probably getting finished for delivery at Boeing’s completion center at the airport when the legal problems started. Unable to actually give the plane to the client, Boeing flew it and several other planes all the way the way back to Seattle with no clear path ahead.
However, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg had already indicated in May that China looked like it was getting ready to accept American planes again. This 737 MAX is the first indication that hand-offs to clients are set to begin again. That’s good news for Boeing, which has been beset by problems over the last few years, including issues with the 737 MAX aircrafts themselves.
How long this lull in the trade war lasts remains to be seen. The current tariff rates, set during the negotiations in May, are only meant to last for 90 days. A new round of negotiations are underway in London right now, but if they’re not successful, 145% tariffs could rear their ugly heads again soon. If they do, expect whichever planes haven’t been delivered to have to make the flight of shame back to Seattle again.
