Donald Trump struggled to explain what Chinese leader Xi Jinping had committed to following bilateral meetings, offering vague descriptions of their discussions while touting an unconfirmed Boeing jet deal.
“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to settle, and the relationship is a very strong one,” Trump, 79, said at the start of bilateral discussions in Beijing on Friday, without specifying what issues had been resolved.
Pressed by Fox News’ Sean Hannity about what Xi wanted from the U.S., Trump appeared unable to provide specifics.
“A lot of things,” Trump told the host with a shrug. “We talked about a lot of things. Too many things to discuss. We had a very good meeting.”
Trump claimed Xi had agreed to order 200 jets from American jet manufacturer Boeing.
“One thing he agreed to today, he’s going to order 200 jets, that’s a big thing,” Trump told Hannity. “Boeings, 200 big ones. That’s a lot of jobs. It’s a lot.”
“Boeing wanted 150, we got 200,” the president added.
But Trump then appeared to cast doubt on whether any concrete agreement actually existed.
“I think it was a commitment, sort of like a statement, but I think it was a commitment,” he said.
China had not publicly confirmed the proposed order as of Friday afternoon, and key details, including the terms of their agreement, delivery schedules, and aircraft models, remain undisclosed.
The uncertainty appeared to spook investors. Boeing shares fell 4.1 percent during market trading after Trump announced the apparent agreement, Reuters reported.
The purported 200-plane deal also fell far short of the roughly 500-aircraft package Reuters reported had been under discussion ahead of Thursday’s meeting between Trump and Xi. Citing sources familiar with the discussions, Reuters said negotiators had explored a sale involving 500 Boeing 737 MAX jets as well as potentially dozens of widebody jets.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who accompanied Trump during the trip as part of the business delegation, had previously hinted at a substantial agreement between Washington and Beijing.
“I’m not going to give you the number of airplanes, but it’s a big number,” Ortberg told analysts before Trump’s Beijing visit.
The last major Boeing agreement between the two countries came during Trump’s November 2017 visit to Beijing, when China agreed to purchase 300 jets. Relations later deteriorated sharply, and Boeing has reportedly received just 51 Chinese orders since then, most of them for freighters, according to Reuters.
Trump also appeared unable to offer a definitive answer about whether Xi agreed with the U.S. position that Iran should never obtain a nuclear weapon.
“I said you don’t need them having a nuclear weapon,” Trump said during the Fox News interview.
Asked whether he believed Xi agreed, Trump told Hannity: “I think he did.”
Trump departed without any clear public indication from Beijing that China was prepared to pressure Tehran to meet U.S. demands.
“He’s not going to respond too much—he’s a pretty cool guy. He’s not going to say, ‘That’s a good point,’” Trump told Hannity of Xi.
The Daily Beast has contacted Boeing and the White House for comment.
