I understand where you’re coming from, bb. I’ve pushed back on offshore manufacturing for years. Reshoring sounds good, but from what I’ve read, Boeing runs on just-in-time deliveries, not stockpiles. If China cuts parts, they’ve maybe got a few weeks before the lines start backing up.
As for making those parts here, I can’t speak from personal experience, but sources like MacroPolo and Logistics Viewpoints point to a 2–5 year timeline. It takes new facilities, tooling, skilled labor, and FAA certification. This isn’t a quick fix.
Boeing’s been tied into China since the early '90s, and over 70% of the 787’s components are outsourced many to China. That’s not undone in a single trade policy.
So yes, prices will go up, but parts might not even be available. That’s what happens when policy outruns planning.
So, Seattle, we have a problem.
The fix? A real industrial strategy. Build capacity first, offer smart incentives, and be ready to eat some losses to rebuild what we gave away over decades.
You’re not wrong, but we’ve got to start somewhere. President Trump is the first President in my lifetime to try. What’s the alternative, do nothing and let China keep eating our lunch?
I’m not blaming companies for outsourcing, I’m blaming our government for creating the incentives to outsource for the last 40 years. President Trump is trying to change the incentives, so that capacity will be built. Yes, we will have to eat some losses.
Why should we charge no tariffs for foreign products when almost every other country charges for ours? So we can get endless supplies of cheap Chinese crap?
COMAC took all those outsourced parts and decided to build an entire airplane. And they can probably do it cheaper than us because they don’t care about human rights or the environment. Should we just let them take over the global market?
A forced partnership with comac is like the EU forcing Boeing into a partnership with airbus. But if reshoring is the goal Trump is going about it in the exact wrong way. A tariff bill in Congress, carefully considered and gradually implemented would give businesses the confidence to make long term billion dollar investments. No one will do that when the tariffs come and go on Trump’s whim.
When you’re bleeding you might think “I have to do something “, but shooting yourself in the foot won’t help. Trump needs patience and a depth of understanding he simply does not possess.
Do not underestimate China’s aviation industry with their suite of Comac products to compete with the West: the regional C909 (formerly ARJ21, DC-9 clone); the C919 (A320/737 equivalent) and the eventual C929 (787/A330 equivalent). Maybe not enough critical mass yet to meet their fleet requirements, but you can be sure that they’ll ramp up production if this debacle is not resolved quickly…
@Starstreams58 I agree. COMAC won’t replace Boeing overnight, but they’re in it for the long haul. In ten years, they could be well established in regions like Asia, Africa, and Latin America. If Boeing remains affected under the present trend and U.S. trade policy stays inconsistent, China will continue its expansion.
It wouldn’t be the first time. Airbus didn’t rise because Boeing collapsed, they came up through planning, innovation, and persistence. It looks like China is following that same path.