(Reuters) – A Boeing plane for China was returning to the United States this Friday, according to flight monitoring data, while the American aircraft manufacturer is located next to Shanghai is at the center of an unprecedented trade war between the two largest world economies.

The decision to bring back one of the many devices parked in the Zhoushan finishing center pending the latest checks before their transfer to Chinese airlines is added to the list of deliveries of deliveries since the industry lost its franchise regime.

In March, just a few weeks before the announcement of “reciprocal” customs duties in the United States and reprisals from China, Boeing had sent three new 737 max devices from his Seattle factory to that of Zhoushan.

Another device had landed last week at the Zhoushan site, where Boeing sets up interiors and painted deliveries before transmitting planes to customers, according to Flightradar24 data.

On Friday, one of the first devices to have been sent to Zhoushan left, without having been delivered, towards the American island of Guam, where many transpacific flights stop, suggesting a possible return to Seattle.

Boeing refused to comment.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported that Boeing was facing a Chinese ban on his imports as part of the climbing of customs war launched by “reciprocal” customs duties by President Donald Trump.

No official comments were made public by the Chinese authorities, and important sources in the aviation sector declared to Reuters not to be aware of formal instructions regarding Boeing aircraft.

Sources are nevertheless agree that the taxation of customs duties on American goods in response to Donald Trump’s decisions would effectively include obstacles to planes.

An important source of the industry said that Boeing and its suppliers start from the principle that they will not deliver devices to China at the moment.

Photos published in February on the “Planespotting” websites have shown that the repatriated plane was set for the Xiamen Airlines livery, the majority of which belong to China Southern.

One of the sources confirmed that the plane should have been delivered to Xiamen, who did not respond to a comment request.

The media dedicated to Air Current aviation, which was the first to report the decision to repatriate certain planes of the Zhoushan site, said that a Chinese airline that was not appointed also returned to its commitment to rent a Boeing apparatus.

Chinese customs did not respond to a comment request.

Pending deliveries

The tariff war and the reversal of the situation in terms of deliveries occurs while Boeing is already trying to recover from a freezing of imports of 737 Max, which lasted five years.

Boeing opened the finishing plant in Zhoushan, a major cargo hub where one of the most active ports in the world is located in 2018. At the time, during Donald Trump’s first term, trade tensions were already rushing.

Although Boeing did not follow Airbus’ decision to assemble complete planes in China, analysts explained that the objective of the American aircraft manufacturer was to create an advantage in one of the most important air markets in the world.

Bloomberg News also reported that Beijing has asked Chinese airlines to suspend purchases of parts of aircraft manufactured in the United States. All modern commercial devices greatly depend on these components.

Two American sources in the sector said they did not receive clear instructions prohibiting sending parts to China. Another source, which runs a maintenance and repair store for planes in China, said that he had had any difficulty importing American parts.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has refused to comment.

Answering questions from journalists about the ban, a spokesman said: “I invite you to contact the competent authorities”.

Confusion around customs duties could leave many deliveries of pending aircraft, some managers of airlines who claimed that they preferred to delay deliveries rather than paying surcharges, analysts explained.

In the past, Boeing delivered 25% of his aircraft to China, but this figure dropped after previous trade tensions, the 737 max crisis and the impact of the Cavid-19 pandemic.

Boeing data counts 130 orders not finalized for airlines and Chinese donors. Sources in the sector have said that a large part of the 760 untreated orders for which Boeing has not yet appointed buyers were intended for China.

According to analysts, a short break in deliveries to China would have no major effect for Boeing immediately, since the aircraft manufacturer can serve other companies and that Irbus lacks excess capacity.

In the long term, however, China remains a key market. Boeing claims that China will more than double its fleet by 2043 while the country is expected to exceed the United States in terms of air traffic.

(Written by Lisa Barrington, Sophie Yu, Dan Catchpole, Allison Lampert and Tim Hepher, Pauline Foret, edited by Augustin Turpin)

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