Trump Meets With Boeing, Boeing Agrees To Slash Air Force One Price

Boeing has caved in to Donald Trump’s demands and agreed to reduce their Air Force One price after a meeting with the president-elect.

Earlier in December, Trump blindsided Boeing with a tweet bemoaning the over $4 billion price tag for Air Force One and threatened to “cancel order!” Boeing’s stock tanked as a result, so naturally Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg agreed to meet with Trump on Wednesday at the Mar-a-Lago resort.

Muilenberg called their meeting “productive.”

“We’re all focused on the same thing here,” Muilenberg told reporters. “We want to make sure we give our war fighters the best capability in the world and that we do it in a way that’s affordable for our taxpayers.”

The Boeing CEO pledged to reduce the cost of the planes to no more than $4 billion.

“We’re going to get it done for less than that, and we’re committed to working together to make sure that happens,” Muilenberg said. “I was able to give the President-elect my personal commitment on behalf of the Boeing company. This is a business that’s important to us. We work on Air Force One because it’s important to our country and we’re going to make sure that he gets the best capability and that it’s done affordably.”

Muilenberg also praised Trump’s “business headset.”

“He’s a good man and he’s doing the right thing,” Muilenberg said.

“He’s a good man and he’s doing the right thing.”

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg

Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci declared Boeing’s price reduction as a “big win for taxpayers.” With a fiscal operating debt of nearly $20 trillion, Boeing reducing their price is a drop in the bucket, so it’s hard to see it as a “big win for taxpayers.” It is certainly helpful to reduce costs when possible, but a “big win for taxpayers” will only occur if the size of government is significantly rolled back.

It should also be troubling to those who believe in the free market that Trump was able to essentially shake down a private company through the use of a tweet, and it could be a trend throughout Trump’s presidency that conservatives should be wary of.