Economy
China to buy 200 Boeing jets, Trump says, much fewer than expected
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that China has agreed to order 200 Boeing jets, marking the country’s first purchase of U.S.-made commercial jets in nearly a decade.
No details about the deal were immediately available, but 200 jets would be far fewer than the 500-jet deal that industry sources said had been discussed. It would also be far fewer than the number of new aircraft needed by Chinese airlines to keep up with the country’s booming demand for air travel.
Boeing shares fell more than 4% after the comments were aired.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump was referring to the entire Boeing order or only to narrowbody or widebody planes. Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier had said that he expected an announcement about a large Boeing order during Trump’s visit to Beijing, during which he held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“One thing he agreed to today, he’s going to order 200 jets … 200 big ones,” Trump told Fox News Channel, referring to Xi.
It was not clear whether Trump was referring to single-aisle 737 Maxes or larger – and much more expensive – twin-aisle 777X or 787 jets used on long-haul flights.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg and GE Aerospace CEO Larry Culp were among the group of American executives who accompanied Trump to China, one of the world’s largest commercial aviation markets, in hopes of clinching deals or resolving business disputes.
During Trump’s November 2017 trip, Beijing agreed to buy 300 Boeing airplanes. However, subsequent trade disputes between the countries effectively shut Boeing out of the world’s second-largest aviation market, which it once dominated.
The fallout between Beijing and Washington, followed by the 737 Max crisis after two fatal crashes, led to the grounding of the plane, as well as later production problems at Boeing, which allowed rival Airbus to cement its lead in the Chinese market. The European planemaker had already been aggressively courting Chinese airlines, even embedding itself into Beijing’s political economy by opening an A320 final assembly line in Tianjin in 2008.
However, China’s aviation market is too big to depend on one planemaker. The country will require at least 9,000 new jetliners by 2045, according to market projections by both Boeing and Airbus.
Trump has aggressively pushed countries during trade talks to boost purchases of Boeing airplanes.
A Boeing deal has been in talks for many months, but geopolitical tensions, trade disputes and fights over intellectual property of advanced aerospace components have foiled earlier attempts to close a deal, according to industry sources familiar with previous negotiations.
Boeing CEO Ortberg last month told Reuters he was counting on the Trump administration’s support to seal a major deal with China.
Shares were down 3.8% at 1400 ET.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday stressed strong cooperation in the defense industry after Türkiye and Kazakhstan signed a deal to establish a joint venture for the manufacturing of drones.
Erdoğan’s remarks came during a business forum in Astana, where he arrived for an official visit and the informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).
Earlier on Thursday, Erdoğan and his Kazakh counterpart, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, oversaw the signing of 13 agreements spanning investment, energy, defense, education, media and infrastructure.
Among them was an agreement to set up a joint venture for the production and maintenance of drones, the countries said.
The deal covers Anka unmanned aerial vehicles developed by the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI). Kazakhstan is already operating several Anka drones, for which it signed a contract back in late 2021. Deliveries were completed by 2023.
Türkiye is among the world’s top unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers and exporters. Its drones gained prominence globally after being used by Ukraine’s military against Russian forces as well as in campaigns in Azerbaijan and North Africa.
Erdoğan said Türkiye and Kazakhstan enjoy strong cooperation in the defense industry and reaffirmed their intention to deepen ties through new projects, including joint production initiatives.
“We have very good cooperation with Kazakhstan in the field of the defense industry. Today, we confirmed our will to advance this cooperation with new projects, including joint production,” he told the forum.
Trade goal
Kazakhstan was Türkiye’s largest trading partner in the Turkic world in 2025, when their bilateral trade approached $10 billion, but Erdoğan said that was not enough.
“We are not content with this. We are determinedly continuing our efforts to sustainably and balanced reach our target of $15 billion,” he said.
Nearly 5,500 Turkish companies operate in Kazakhstan with investments reaching $6 billion across sectors, including construction, finance, tourism and information technology.
According to Erdoğan, Turkish contractors have undertaken more than 500 projects across Kazakhstan worth nearly $30 billion.
The Turkish president also said more than 750 Kazakh companies are operating in Türkiye with investments approaching $2 billion.
Artificial intelligence, energy cooperation
Later on Thursday, Erdoğan visited Alem.AI, a major international artificial intelligence center, alongside Tokayev.
At the forum, Erdoğan praised Kazakhstan’s advances in AI and welcomed the decision to make artificial intelligence and digital development the main theme of the OTS summit due to be held on Friday in the southern Kazakh city of Turkistan.
Highlighting regional economic challenges, including energy supply security, AI transformation and disruptions in supply chains, the Turkish leader stressed the growing importance of international cooperation.
On the energy partnership, Erdoğan said the two sides discussed opportunities ranging from hydrocarbon production and transportation to the exploration of critical minerals.
“We are a country that has secured its energy supply security by ensuring resource diversification years ago. We wish to transport larger volumes of oil from Kazakhstan to global markets via our country,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) and KazMunayGas signed two separate agreements, including a cooperation deal on oil field services and a memorandum on the joint development of oil and gas projects.
Erdoğan added that Türkiye is working to revive the Caspian-transit East-West Middle Corridor by integrating railway connections, port infrastructure and digital customs systems.
“Our goal remains to bring the Eurasian region into a more competitive position in the global economy while bringing our countries closer together,” Erdoğan said.
India’s capital New Delhi introduced fuel-saving measures on Thursday, including work-from-home days for government employees following Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeal for reduced consumption as the Middle East war disrupts supply chains.
India is one of the few countries in the region that has not increased prices of petrol and diesel for domestic consumers or rationed supplies.
However, it has increased prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) – a primary cooking fuel in India – after disruptions following the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that led to Iran’s near-total blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the 90-day drive will entail reduced official fuel use and travel, and a push for residents to cut back on private vehicle use and shift to public transport in the sprawling megacity.
Government offices will have two work-from-home days a week for those able to work remotely, Gupta said, adding that the private sector was expected to follow suit voluntarily.
“Our appeal to the people of Delhi is that once a week, each of us should have a no-vehicle day,” Gupta told reporters.
Other austerity measures will include the cancellation of large official public events over the next three months and foreign travel for a year, she said.
The Delhi government will also halt purchases of new petrol, diesel, compressed natural gas (CNG) or hybrid vehicles for six months, the chief minister said.
Modi said on Sunday that restrictions on fuel use were also necessary to save foreign currency spent on fuel imports.
“We must also place a strong emphasis on saving foreign exchange, as petrol and diesel have become so expensive globally,” he said.
New Delhi has also boosted its import tariffs on gold and silver in an effort to shore up the sagging value of the rupee and bolster foreign currency reserves hit by the war.
The momentum in the property market in Türkiye picked up pace in April as both house and commercial property sales increased in the month, official data showed on Thursday.
A total of 126,808 houses were sold in Türkiye in April, up 2.6% from a year earlier, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
The figure compares with 123,569 housing sales recorded in the same month last year and cumulatively looking it is also the highest figure this year so far.
House sales, which are divided into new home sales and second-hand sales, were relatively lower in the first quarter following a record achieved in sales in December last year.
Accordingly, in April, new house sales surged by 9.6% compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching 40,306 units, as per TurkStat.
Second-home sales, meanwhile, decreased by 0.3% over the same period to 86,502 units.
Thus, new house sales accounted for 31.8% while existing house sales accounted for 68.2% of total house sales.
Mortgage-financed home sales jumped 40.5% to 25,771, accounting for 20.3% of total transactions in the same month.
Meanwhile, sales to foreign buyers declined 1.1% to 1,516 units, with Russians, Chinese and Iranians among the top purchasers, data revealed. In January-April, house sales to foreigners decreased by 11.6% year-over-year to 5,681 units.
In the first four months of the year, total house sales stood at 476,204 units, up 0.5% year-on-year.
Commercial property sales, which TurkStat recently included in its monthly housing report, have also increased in April.
New commercial property sales rose by 14.3% on an annual basis, reaching 4,301 units, while second-hand ones were up 8.7% and stood at 11,393 units, respectively.
Turks tend to invest in the residential sector and gold to shield themselves from the surge in consumer prices.
Annual inflation in the country picked up slightly to around 32.4% in April after a long period of declining trend, mainly due to the rise in energy and food prices following the start of the war between the U.S., Israel and Iran.
The Turkish central bank raised its interim inflation targets on Thursday, warning it believed that an inflationary impact would remain present in the short-term due to tensions in the region amid the Iran war.
The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) lifted its end-2026 interim inflation target to 24% from the previous 16% and end-2027 target to 15% from 9%, Governor Fatih Karahan said.
Presenting the central bank’s quarterly inflation report in Istanbul, Karahan said the bank set its end-2028 interim target at 9%.
While also setting forecasts at 26%, 15% and 9% for the said years, the governor announced that the bank decided to suspend the forecast range approach.
Annual inflation in Türkiye stood at around 32.4% in April, according to official data.
The British economy grew in line with expectations in the first quarter of the year, official data showed Thursday, offering a rare boost to Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he scrambles to stay in power.
Gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.6% in the January-March period, up from a revised expansion of 0.2% in the final three months of last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
It added that GDP grew 0.3% in March alone, beating analysts’ expectations, despite the economic fallout from the Middle East war.
“Today’s figures show the government has the right economic plan,” Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said after the data release.
The economy “is in a stronger position as we deal with the costs of the war in Iran,” she added. “Now is not the time to put our economic stability at risk.”
The figures come as Starmer battles to face down a revolt within his Labour Party in the wake of heavy defeats in local and regional elections last week.
The elections saw strong gains for the hard-right Reform UK party and the left-wing populist Greens, at Labour’s expense.
The results capped a difficult few months for Labour, which has struggled to revive Britain’s economy since winning a general election in July 2024, having raised taxes in its two annual budgets.
There were signs of progress earlier in the year, with inflation easing toward the 2% target set by the Bank of England (BoE) and unemployment unexpectedly falling in February.
But rising energy prices stemming from the Middle East war, which began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, have reignited inflationary pressures and threaten to derail growth.
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair, placing him at the helm of the central bank as it faces mounting political pressure and with inflation at a three-year high.
The Senate voted 54 to 45 to in favor of Warsh, with Republicans holding a slim majority and ensuring President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Jerome Powell was confirmed.
Once known as a monetary “hawk” against inflation, Warsh has shifted in line with Trump’s push for lower interest rates that has posed an unprecedented challenge to the Fed’s independence.
The incoming Fed chair, confirmed for a four-year term, has promised to bring “regime change” at the bank, which he has criticized as too political and too open in communicating its decision-making.
But with inflation still above the Fed’s long-term two-percent target, and rising over Trump’s Iran war, Warsh is unlikely to convince fellow members of the bank’s rate-setting committee to cut immediately.
That could leave him open to attacks from Trump, who has relentlessly lashed out at Powell over rate decisions.
“Warsh’s biggest challenge will likely be dealing with President Trump,” said David Wessel, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
“The president does not respect the independence of the Fed and he wants interest rates to be lower.”
Fed independence attacks
In January, Powell said a Justice Department criminal probe against him over cost overruns related to a building renovation project was intended to create pressure on monetary policy decision-making.
That followed Trump’s separate attempt to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook from the board.
The criminal probe against Powell has since been dropped, as the Trump administration aimed to smooth the path for Warsh’s nomination. The Supreme Court is due to rule on the legality of removing Cook.
Both moves were “unprecedented,” said Kathryn Judge, a Columbia law professor who focuses on banking.
While Warsh is Trump’s pick, as Powell was nine years ago, Judge said there was no reason to believe the pressure will ease.
“Fed officials have been put on notice that this president is willing to use all available tools to bully them into acceding to his demands,” she said.
Economic challenges
Warsh is taking over as the world’s largest economy continues to reel from repeated economic shocks.
The pandemic delivered a hammer blow to the Fed’s inflation target, with CPI peaking at 9.1 percent in mid-2022. It has since come down, but US households have been battered by years of higher-than-expected price increases.
In April, year-on-year inflation came in at a three-year high of 3.8 percent, fueled in part by surging oil prices in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran.
The Fed’s other mandate is ensuring maximum employment. The unemployment rate has remained relatively firm at around 4.3 percent, but the steady number hides churn beneath the surface.
Job growth has been weak, see-sawing between expansion and contraction for months, with new jobs mainly driven by the health care sector.
The tumult has been partly hidden because there has been a significant drop in labor supply, driven by Trump’s deportation drive and an ageing population.
The situation has put Fed policymakers in the difficult position of having to choose between dueling mandates: raise interest rates to combat inflation, or cut them to spur growth?
A house divided
It is here that Warsh faces his third major challenge: divisions on the Fed’s rate-setting committee on the path forward.
At the last meeting, there was a rare outpouring of dissent, with three members declaring that the Fed should indicate a rate hike could be on the cards to combat inflation.
“One of Warsh’s challenges is that the Fed does seem divided — at times along partisan lines, which is a change from the past,” said Wessel.
Added to that another wrinkle: Powell will be the first outgoing chair in more than 70 years not to leave the board at the expiration of his term as its head.
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