Boeing delivers 777 jet to Chinas Suparna Airlines, first freighter delivery since trade war

BEIJING (GWN) -Boeing delivered on Wednesday the first of two 777 freighters ordered by China’s Suparna Airlines, the U.S. planemaker said on Thursday via its official WeChat account.

It marks the first new-build freighter handed to a Chinese provider since the U.S.-China tariff war started.

Nearly 60 Boeing 777 freighters are already flying at six Chinese carriers, the planemaker says.

Beijing blocked Boeing jet deliveries in retaliation for tariffs the United States imposed on China earlier this 12 months. That restriction was later eased after Washington and Beijing struck a momentary tariff truce.

On Tuesday, a group of U.S. lawmakers on a uncommon go to to Beijing said that they’d raised a deal with top Chinese leaders which might see China commit to buy more Boeing jets.

Boeing is in talks to promote as many as 500 jets to China, Bloomberg reported last month. That would signify a major breakthrough for the company in the world’s second-largest aviation market, where orders have stalled amid the trade tensions.

Asked about contemporary purchases of Boeing jets on Thursday, China’s Commerce Ministry spokesman He Yadong told reporters in Beijing that “unilateral U.S. restrictive measures” remained the largest barrier to regular trade cooperation.

(Reporting by Sophie Yu and Lisa Barrington. Editing by Mark Potter)