Chinese airlines have begun shipping Boeing planes back to the U.S. , with a 737 Max landing at the group's Seattle hub on Saturday , Fox reported, citing Reuters, which said the first return came after China ordered its airlines not to accept any more deliveries of Boeing planes, as Beijing retaliated against U.S. tariffs that rose to 145 percent on Chinese goods.

The plane returned to Seattle, painted in Xiamen livery, was among 737 Max jets waiting at the Zhoushan hub for final assembly work and delivery.

Major aviation players increasingly see China as the largest market for commercial aviation in the future . For years, Boeing has been the largest U.S. industrial exporter to China. In 2024, the United States shipped nearly $12 billion in aircraft, spacecraft, and components to the country , while importing virtually nothing into the industry.

To offer its airlines an alternative supplier, the Chinese government has invested tens of billions of dollars in Shanghai-based Comac to produce domestic equivalents of Boeing and European Airbus commercial aircraft. But it does not yet seem to be independent of the Americans. By bringing planes into the trade war, Beijing risks exposing its own vulnerability and highlighting the power of the United States over Comac: the company's C919 model is airworthy thanks to critical technology supplied by American companies including GE Aerospace, Honeywell and RTX.

President Xi Jinping himself, during his tour of Southeast Asia, which ended last week, including Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, used a Boeing 747-8 (registered as B-2479) for his travels , part of Air China's small fleet serving state flights.

(Unioneonline/vl)