President Trump has declared that the main focus of the China Summit is trade, specifically unveiling big transactions for signature U.S. enterprises that swell the flow of exports toward the immense market the POTUS claims isn’t buying enough of our stuff, and Washington-Beijing accords that mark a defrosting of the icy standoff between the world’s two biggest economies. The stateside player most likely to land a trophy coup is Boeing. In the week or so prior to Trump’s departure for China, leading a retinue of eighteen super-prominent CEOs, sundry media outlets reported that the aerospace colossus is negotiating a giant sale to China’s three major carriers, naturally shepherded by Beijing.
Two factors suggest that what might appear a rumor’s really a done deal. First, it’s probable that the news arose from a publicity-enhancing leak from the Administration. And the President wouldn’t put the plum out there if it stood the remotest chance of not happening, a scenario that would serve his critics grist for declaring the conclave a flop. Second, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg is making the trip—as far as we know, he’s accompanying Trump alongside the other grandees on the Air Force One provided by the government of Qatar (which is, by the way, a custom version of the Boeing 787). Ortberg’s an extremely careful operator who would never even hint at an order that wasn’t going to happen, a prime reason to believe that the Trump team’s behind the buzz.
