The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China links most prominently to its Boeing 737 competitor on its home page

Think The Trade Surplus China’s Running With The U.S. Right Now Is Huge? Just Wait.

What do Boeing’s troubles with its newest 737, and Ghana have to do with it?

Part of the reason China is running more than a $600-billion annual trade surplus with the U.S. (Trump tends to use a bigger number because he only includes goods, not services), is that it makes a lot of the things Americans buy, so it exports a lot. Part of the reason is also because it makes a lot of the things its own consumers buy, so it doesn’t import much. (Part of is also that China consistently cheats, especially when it comes to intellectual property.)

But there are a few things China doesn’t build itself. At least not well, at least not yet. And one of those things is passenger airplanes. And there’s a reason it hasn’t prioritized that as an industry even though clearly the demand is there. For years, the purchase of U.S. (and European) made jets was one of the only ways China was able to even things out at least a little. American made passenger planes are by far the biggest U.S. export to China, knocking more than $16-billion off the U.S. deficit. (Soybeans are second). And get this: according to estimates by Boeing, China will need to buy $1.2-trillion of new aircraft between now and 2037. That’s not a typo. That’s trillion.