Trump says he spoke with Boeing CEO: 'We're going to work it out'

Donald Trump spoke Tuesday with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg, the president-elect confirmed in a Wednesday morning interview, a conversation that followed his earlier accusation that the airplane manufacturer is fleecing American taxpayers on a contract to create the next generation of presidential aircraft.

The president-elect called Muilenburg “a very good man” but nonetheless said that Boeing’s project to build two new planes for the presidential fleet is too expensive. He pledged to bring down the cost of the planes, which are designated “Air Force One” when the president is aboard, or else scrap the project entirely.


“Well I think the planes are too expensive. I spoke to a very good man yesterday, the head of Boeing, a terrific guy, and we're going to work it out,” Trump told NBC’s “Today” on Wednesday morning. “You know, that’s what I’m here for. I’m going to negotiate prices. Planes are too expensive and we’re going to get the prices down and if we don’t get the prices down, we’re not going to order them. We’re going to stay with what we have.”

Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning that costs on the project were “out of control” and said he would cancel the order as president. In brief remarks to reporters later Tuesday morning, Trump said “Boeing is doing a little bit of a number,” implying that the company was artificially inflating costs. He pegged the price of the program at $4 billion, higher than estimates from the Air Force and the Government Accountability Office.

Trump’s surprise decision to lash out at Boeing came just minutes after the publication of a Chicago Tribune story on Muilenburg in which the Boeing CEO was critical of Trump’s protectionist trade agenda. Muilenburg stated that Trump’s get-tough-with-China proposals could wind up hurting Boeing’s robust business relationship with the world’s most populous nation. He also urged Trump not to back away from the international trade deals he lambasted on the campaign trail, saying that "If we do not lead when it comes to writing these rules, our competitors will write them for us."

The president-elect said Wednesday morning that he had not seen the article and that his decision to call out Boeing was based only on the price of the presidential planes, nothing more. He said America’s largest airplane manufacturer stands to benefit as much as every other American company from his policies.

“My trade policies are going to be terrific. And by the way, we're lowering taxes in this country. We’re getting rid of 90 percent, maybe 85 percent of the regulations which are stifling business,” he said. “Boeing is going to be a tremendous beneficiary of that and maybe even mostly regulations. I mean, people are more happy about the regulations even though we're massively cutting taxes for businesses.”