The agreement represents a significant reopening of a market that had once accounted for a major share of Boeing’s global commercial aircraft deliveries before trade tensions and safety concerns sharply reduced Chinese demand.

Speaking aboard Air Force One after departing Beijing, Trump said China also secured an option to purchase as many as 750 additional Boeing aircraft under the arrangement. Boeing later confirmed the 200-plane order but did not disclose aircraft models, delivery timelines or financial terms.

“We had a very successful trip to China and accomplished our major goal of reopening the China market to orders for Boeing aircraft,” the company said in a statement, adding that it expected to continue addressing China’s long-term aviation demand.

Boeing Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg joined a delegation of senior American executives accompanying Trump during the Beijing visit as U.S. companies sought to deepen commercial engagement with China despite ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Trump said the agreement would also benefit GE Aerospace, which he said could supply between 400 and 450 aircraft engines tied to the deal. GE Aerospace Chief Executive H. Lawrence Culp was also part of the delegation.

The Trump administration has increasingly positioned Boeing at the center of its strategy to expand U.S. manufacturing exports and strengthen industrial competitiveness abroad. Several major aircraft orders have followed presidential visits and bilateral meetings during Trump’s second term.

Last year, Qatar Airways agreed to purchase up to 210 Boeing widebody aircraft during Trump’s Middle East visit, while Korean Air later formalized a deal valued at roughly $50 billion for aircraft, engines and maintenance services following talks in Washington with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

Additional orders followed from Turkish Airlines, Emirates and FlyDubai, helping Boeing recover from a prolonged downturn in international sales.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, China accounted for roughly one-third of Boeing’s narrowbody aircraft deliveries. The company’s position weakened after deteriorating U.S.-China relations and the grounding of the 737 MAX fleet following two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people.

China became the first country to suspend operations of the 737 MAX in 2019 and resumed flights only in 2023, later than many other aviation markets.
Ortberg assumed leadership of Boeing in 2024 during a period of mounting operational and financial pressure after a panel blowout aboard a 737 MAX flight departing Portland, Oregon intensified scrutiny over manufacturing standards and safety controls.

Analysts said details surrounding broader trade agreements reached during the Trump-Xi summit remained limited. Bonnie Glaser said there was little publicly available information on other potential Chinese purchases involving U.S. agricultural and energy exports.

Al Baker will be succeeded by Badr Mohammed Al Meer, currently chief operating officer of Hamad International Airport, the source familiar with the matter said.

Al Baker’s resignation was announced to staff in an official circular, seen by Reuters, from Chairman Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi who paid tribute to his “27 years of remarkable service”.

Qatar Airways could not immediately be reached for comment.

Al Baker was appointed CEO in 1997, three years after the airline’s launch, and has been instrumental in transforming Qatar Airways into a major international carrier that competes against the likes of Dubai’s Emirates and Turkish Airlines.

He also became synonymous with a shift in the global aviation map towards the Gulf, as carriers swept up passengers transiting between East and West, and regularly clashed with U.S. and European airline chiefs on trade and labour issues.

Al Baker frequently made headlines by goading Western plane giants Airbus and Boeing over their strategies, or factory workmanship, and led the airline during a bitter recent dispute with Airbus over damage to the surface of A350 aircraft.

Airbus and Qatar Airways settled at the end of January, averting a rare and potentially damaging UK court trial in the jet sector. Speaking earlier this year in Berlin, Al Baker called the settlement a “win-win”.

He also became a public voice for Qatar during a diplomatic boycott by neighbouring Arab states in 2017-2021, and pushed a strategy of keeping routes open during the pandemic to bolster the presence of the national brand on the world stage.

At times, his habit of making off-the-cuff remarks garnered criticism and would subsequently require him to apologise, such as in 2018 when he said a woman would not able to do his job.

Al Baker’s retirement was first reported on X, formerly known as Twitter, by aviation analyst Alex Macheras.

The move came after it was announced on Sunday that Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamid Al Thani had replaced Al Baker as the country’s top tourism official. No reason was given for the decision.

It was not immediately clear whether Al Baker was retiring from other posts, which include serving as the chief executive of Hamad International Airport and of Qatar Duty Free.