As the European Union and many countries throughout the world were moving to keep Boeing 737 Max 8s, the plane involved in Sunday’s Ethiopian Airlines crash, out of their airspace, the plane maker’s CEO was apparently working behind the scenes to keep the same from happening in the US.

Dennis Muilenburg, CEO of Chicago-based Boeing, spoke with President Donald Trump on the phone on Tuesday morning to keep the plane from being grounded in the US, The New York Times reported, citing two people familiar with the call.

In a statement to a Times reporter, a Boeing official said Muilenburg only "reiterated our position that the Max is a safe aircraft" on the call with Trump.

A Boeing spokesperson confirmed the call to Business Insider, but did not offer details about who requested the call or any other information. The company said Muilenberg reiterated Boeing's position that the MAX aircraft is safe.

Read more: Trump's new defense chief's history as a Boeing executive is raising concerns, but he's not the only one with deep military-industrial ties

About two-thirds of the world’s 737 Max 8 fleet has been grounded, The Times said. On Tuesday, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) moved to ban the plane, citing the need to ensure the safety of passengers in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 crash on Sunday.

The plane has also been banned from China, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, and other countries.

Meanwhile, several US senators have urged the Federal Aviation Administration to ban the plane. As it stands, the plane is still considered safe to fly by the US and Canada.

Trump did little to quell fears about the plane's safety when he tweeted without evidence on Tuesday that modern planes were becoming "too complex to fly." Data show that air travel has become significantly safer in recent decades despite the two recent crashes.

More about the Boeing 737 MAX 8 and the Ethiopian Airlines disaster: