Key Takeaways
- US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says a €3 billion European Investment Bank loan to Airbus, the bank’s largest corporate loan ever, could break the US-EU truce on aircraft tariffs.
- Greer wants details on the loan but makes no threat to bring back duties, so any gain for Boeing from a new trade fight is a guess for now.
- Boeing has more than $45 billion of debt and has burned cash in three of the past five years, while Airbus is borrowing from a public bank through 2030.
- Boeing’s bigger problem is its own 737 ramp: 52 jets a month has slipped to the back half of 2027, and October deliveries are the next thing to watch.
Boeing (BA) had an ugly Tuesday. Shares fell nearly 11%, their worst day since June 2020, after the company pushed its next 737 production step into the back half of 2027.
The night before, Washington took up an old fight on Boeing’s behalf. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer put out a statement questioning the tariff truce with the EU after what his office called a “record-breaking” loan to Airbus.
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What Greer is upset about
On June 29, the European Investment Bank, the EU’s own lender, approved a €3 billion package for Airbus. That’s the largest corporate loan it has ever authorized, and Airbus signed the first €1 billion that day. The money pays for Airbus research in France, Germany and Spain through 2030.
The timing is what stings. Days earlier, EU member states had voted to keep their retaliatory tariffs in the Airbus-Boeing dispute on hold. Greer didn’t hold back:
“For decades, France, Germany, and Spain have aggressively supported Airbus, their national champion aircraft manufacturer, to gain an unfair advantage over U.S. aerospace workers and businesses.”
The US paused the duties it won at the WTO in exchange for a promise from both sides to finance planemakers on market terms. Airbus CFO Thomas Toepfer, meanwhile, praised the loan’s “highly competitive terms.” And Greer says that “despite ongoing requests, USTR still has no details about this loan.”
Still, the statement makes no threat. Greer wants the matter “resolved as soon as possible,” with no deadline and no list of duties. Until USTR spells out what it will do, any gain for Boeing is a guess.
Boeing pays for its recovery the hard way
The complaint has teeth because Boeing doesn’t have a public bank behind it. It has burned cash in three of the last five years, including $14.3 billion in 2024…
…and it has ended every year since 2021 with more than $54 billion of debt:
It’s paid some of that down since then: debt was $45.9 billion at June 30, after $8.2 billion of repayments in the first half. But Boeing still booked $2.8 billion of interest and debt expense in 2025. The money Airbus spends on its next jets comes on long, flexible terms from Brussels, while Boeing’s comes from thin cash flow and lenders charging market rates.
The bigger problem is in Boeing’s own factories
As Bloomberg Intelligence’s George Ferguson put it on Tuesday’s episode of The Tape: “nothing happens fast anymore in manufacturing, especially aerospace manufacturing.”
Boeing said on its third-quarter call that the 737 will stay at 47 a month into next year. It built only about 41 a month in the third quarter. Demand isn’t the issue: the backlog hit a record $745 billion, more than 6,300 jets.
Wall Street’s revenue forecasts depend on Boeing building those jets faster.
That $111 billion for 2027 assumed a faster ramp than the one Boeing just laid out. Ferguson expects analysts to go back and redo their models, and Greer’s statement won’t change that math.
My take: a fight over Airbus’s financing would help Boeing win orders, and orders are the one thing Boeing has plenty of. Until it can build what it has already sold, the 737 line matters far more to shareholders than Washington does.
Of course, that could change if USTR gets the loan’s terms and decides they’re below market. Before that, Boeing’s October deliveries, due in early November, will show whether the 737 line is holding at 47.
So what is Boeing stock actually worth?
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
