The US-China relationship

Trump: China may buy up to 750 Boeing planes

Yesterday, reports emerged that China had agreed to buy 200 Boeing planes. Today, Donald Trump said that China has the option to increase the order to up to 750 aircraft. The president told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, according to Reuters.

According to Trump, GE Aerospace engines are also included in the deal.

If the deal is completed, it will be Boeing's first major order from China in almost a decade. The company has long been largely excluded from the Chinese market due to trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

It is unclear how many of the 200 planes are new orders and how many were already in Boeing's order book. An order for more than 500 planes, if it goes through, would be the largest in aviation history, the news agency writes.

Analysis: China is holding the baton – the US is falling behind

After Trump's meeting with Xi Jinping, one thing is clear: China sees itself as a great power equal next to the US, says Sveriges Radio's China commentator Moa Kärnstrand. And rightly so, believes Affärsvärlden's Peter Benson, who states that "China is clearly the world's leading industrial nation and the US is not even close" in a column. He writes that the US is still the world's largest economy in nominal dollars, but if you look at purchasing power, China overtook the US almost a decade ago.

Moa Kärnstrand also warns about how China may use its power in the future. One thing she identifies as new during the meeting was how clear Xi Jinping was that the US must handle Taiwan in the way that China wants – otherwise the US risks the economic relationship between the countries.