- Europe's Airbus said Friday that China's three largest airlines had ordered $37 billion worth of its jets.
- A spokesperson for US rival Boeing suggested "geopolitical differences" meant it missed out on the deal.
- A Chinese state-run newspaper said Sunday it was "natural" for the US to "feel sour."
Beijing has said it's "natural" for the US to "feel sour" after three major Chinese airlines signed a deal to buy $37 billion worth of aircraft from Boeing rival Airbus.
An editorial in the Chinese state-run Global Times newspaper, published Sunday, also suggested that US public opinion had been "flooded with jealousy" after Europe's Airbus bagged the order.
Airbus said Friday that the three Chinese airlines had ordered 292 of its passenger jets in one of the largest single-day deals in aviation history.
The Global Times editorial said of Boeing and Airbus: "Judging from the performance of these two companies in the global market, since 2019, Airbus has been way ahead of Boeing in terms of competing for passenger plane orders and market share."
It continued: "On the one hand, this is partly due to safety concerns as flights operated by Boeing 737 MAX aircraft have still largely not resumed in various countries. On the other, the disruptions in the US supply chain have seriously affected Boeing's delivery capacity."
The editorial said that Boeing had "complained about 'geopolitical differences' affecting its business" but "China is not the one to blame."
It said: "It is natural for the US side to feel sour after losing the competition to Airbus."
A spokesperson for Boeing, which is America's largest exporter, told Bloomberg: "It is disappointing that geopolitical differences continued to constrain US aircraft exports."
Boeing did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside normal business hours.
The US and China have been engaged in a trade war since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016. The Trump administration began imposing widespread tariffs on Chinese goods in 2018, many of which are still in place.
As of May 2022, around two-thirds of Chinese imports to the US were subject to tariffs of up to 25%, according to The Washington Post.
Boeing said it was calling for "productive dialogue" between the Chinese and US governments, per Reuters.