Boeing's main competitor Airbus cannot be China's only supplier of large commercial jets given its capacity constraints, it said. The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) is also "highly dependent on U.S. suppliers," the analysts said. If China stopped buying aircraft components from the United States, COMAC's C919 program — a competitor to Boeing's 737 or Airbus's A320 — would be halted, they said. A delivery blockage would affect the United States' trade balance further as well. Boeing's production slowed significantly after quality issues that emerged with an in-flight incident in January 2024, and two factories were subsequently paralyzed by a strike in the fall. According to US official data, commercial aircraft exports reached $4.2 billion in August last year but dropped to $2.6 billion in September. They slipped further in October and November.