Boeing is negotiating the sale of up to 500 planes to China, according to the agency.

American aviation giant Boeing is negotiating the sale of up to 500 planes to Chinese companies, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday 21, citing sources close to the case.

The deal would represent a major victory for the struggling American manufacturer.

The company's shares rose as much as 3.7% in pre-market trading.

Bloomberg sources said the deal would depend on Washington and Beijing reaching a long-term agreement in their trade war.

The Boeing deal would be a key aspect of negotiations between the two powers, they added.

They also reported that Chinese officials had begun surveying domestic airlines to determine how many planes they would need.

Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has imposed new tariffs on partners around the world, seeking to address U.S. trade deficits that he says highlight unfair practices.

In July, the US Presidency announced that Japan had committed to buying 100 Boeing planes and Indonesia another 50, as part of negotiations to avoid higher customs tariffs.

Trump has been particularly critical of China in its attempt to restructure international trade.

This year, Washington and Beijing imposed mutual tariffs on products from their respective countries that reached triple digits, which led to the temporary suspension of Boeing aircraft deliveries.

However, in May, the two sides agreed to temporarily reduce tariffs and adopted subsequent 90-day extensions while they negotiate a longer-term pact.

China's last major deal with Boeing was reached in 2017, at the start of Trump's first term, when Beijing agreed to purchase 300 planes for more than $37 billion (more than R$122 billion at the time).

In July, Boeing reported smaller second-quarter losses than a year earlier, while delivering the most aircraft since 2018.

The manufacturer was hit by quality control issues after a fuselage panel exploded on a 737 MAX in January 2024. This incident followed two deadly crashes involving the popular MAX model in 2018 and 2019.