Aviation giant Boeing opens its first aircraft plant in China as the company tries to navigate between the tensions created by the continuing trade war that Beijing and Washington are leading.
The plant in Zhoushan, located in eastern China, will produce Boeing 737 aircraft. This will make the aircraft the first one from Boeing produced outside the United States. The first piece was shown at the official opening. The plan was launched before Donald Trump’s election at the White House. It was in China that Boeing sold its first ten planes back in 1972. Richard Nixon arrived also with Boeing (707) in Beijing.
The opening of the plant, designed to boost Boeing’s sales to its rival Airbus, comes as the two companies struggle for a share of China’s fast-growing aviation market. China will likely surpass the US aviation equipment market over the next decade.
Boeing invested $33 million in 2017 to take a major stake in a joint venture with Commercial Aircraft Corp. in China to build the plant.
The company sold more than a quarter of its total aircraft in China last year, where Boeing estimates that demand for new aircraft over the next 20 years will reach as much as $1.2 trillion.
The opening of the new plant comes as part of the ongoing US-China trade war. The two countries are now honoring the 90-day “truce” and refraining from applying more tariff quotas while trying to negotiate a deal.
While farmers and some other US businesses are affected by tariffs, the aviation sector for the time being is avoiding them. Experts even call aviation a “bright ray” against the backdrop of the Washington-Beijing conflict.
Boeing says he hopes to achieve his goal of 100 aircraft produced annually at his Zhoushan plant. The company has no plans to expand production to other types of aircraft for the time being. Boeing is currently trying to ease pressure on his Seattle plant, which is struggling with production delays. The company has ambitious targets for 2019 and hopes that the new production facilities in China will help.
