By Karen Freifeld and Allison Lampert
NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters) – The Trump administration has been taking steps to turn China’s dependence on US aviation suppliers into leverage for trade negotiations, according to people familiar with the matter.
Efforts to slow vital goods to China show how the US is working to strengthen its hand in trade talks as Washington works to loosen Beijing’s grip on rare earth minerals needed for a wide range of US industries, including vehicle manufacturing, chipmaking and aerospace. Two sources said the US Department of Commerce is positioning itself to increase pressure on Beijing, should the administration call upon it to do so.
The slowdown has taken several forms. The Commerce Department slowed export licensing for airplane parts bound for China in recent weeks, two other sources told Reuters.
Officials have also expressed interest in issuing an export regulation that could make it easier to restrict landing gear and other aircraft parts to China, two sources said. A draft version included a new licensing requirement on aviation hydraulic fluid shipped by US suppliers like ExxonMobil, one of the people said.
And the Commerce Department has been limiting the number of parts licensed to be shipped to China’s state-owned planemaker, COMAC, to keep the company from stockpiling, another source said.
The Commerce Department and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Chinese embassy in Washington also did not immediately respond, but after the U.S. imposed export restrictions amid trade tensions last year, an embassy spokesperson accused the US of abusing export controls.
US and Chinese officials met in September in New York and Washington to negotiate key economic issues between the two countries, including US access to Chinese rare earth minerals, agricultural trade and issues around increasingly powerful AI.
TRADE TRUCE EXTENDED TO JANUARY
With Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington last week, the two countries entered a new period of détente, agreeing to reduce tariffs on a variety of goods imported from each other and extend a trade truce set to expire on November 10, giving negotiators until January 10, 2027, to tackle tougher issues.
The effort to constrain the flow of commercial aircraft parts between the world’s two largest economies, after a heated tug of war over parts last year, has raised industry concerns over planes as weapons for trade talks.
Aerospace has been largely unscathed by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have been slapped on multiple sectors and trading partners globally. But the industry has wrestled with shortages of parts and materials due to geopolitical tensions. Producers of thermal coating sprays used to protect jet engines, for example, continue to struggle with Chinese controls of rare earth materials that have led to delays.
CHINA SEEKS GUARANTEES ON JET SUPPLIES
Meanwhile, China has sought several years’ worth of spare parts for 200 Boeing jets it agreed to purchase last spring, sources said, in what would be the US planemaker’s first major deal with Chinese carriers in nearly a decade. But the US has been reluctant to provide guarantees, seeing the parts as leverage that could be used to secure future concessions, the sources said.
It is unclear where China’s request for the spare parts stands.
A spokesperson for Boeing said, “Consistent with US export requirements, Boeing is committed to supporting Chinese airlines with the parts and services they need as we have done for decades.”
Planes are not generally sold with guarantees on parts. China’s stance reflects industry-wide concerns about parts shortages as well as political concerns about a new flare-up of trade tensions.
Last October, in fact, Trump said the US could impose export controls on Boeing plane parts as part of Washington’s response to Chinese export limits on rare earth minerals.
US SUPPLIERS CRITICAL TO CHINESE AVIATION
Access to parts manufactured by US aerospace suppliers is critical for Boeing and Airbus jets operated by Chinese carriers, as well as COMAC, which wants to ramp up production of its own commercial jets.
The US imposed new export restrictions on aircraft products last year as the trade war between Washington and Beijing intensified. In late spring, the US suspended licenses for GE Aerospace’s jet engines, Honeywell Aerospace navigation systems and other parts for COMAC. It also sent letters to manufacturers of hydraulic fluid used in airplanes in China, saying the fluid was subject to a new — but ultimately short-lived — export license requirement.
The 2025 restrictions extended to a broad swath of items beyond aerospace, including ethane and electronic design automation software, and appeared aimed at preventing China from getting products necessary for key sectors. But they lasted only a few weeks.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Editing by Chris Sanders, Matthew Lewis and Nick Zieminski)
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