President-elect Trump on his desire to cancel Boeing’s Air Force One order: “We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money” pic.twitter.com/kIdpCy0JuX
— CNN (@CNN) December 6, 2016
Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he would like to cancel a government contract to build a new Air Force One. Specifically, the president-elect argued the price tag for the two new planes had allegedly ballooned to the astronomical price of $4 billion, which was simply too much to pay. Unsurprisingly Trump’s proclamation did not come from an officially released statement or a press conference, but his overly active Twitter account:
Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016
Plans have been in motion to build a new set of Air Force One planes since January, as Reuters reports Boeing was awarded an initial contract of approximately $26 million designed to help lower costs. Yet CNN Money notes the order for the new planes has yet to be placed, and that they won’t be ready to fly until 2022. Trump later elaborated on the tweet with reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower, who said he was all for companies (i.e. Boeing) being successful, but not too successful:
“Well the plane is totally out of control. It’s going to be over $4 billion for [the] Air Force One program,” he said. “And I think it’s ridiculous. I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money.”
Trump did not explain where the $4 billion price tag came from, as the Air Force has earmarked $2.9 billion through 2021 for two new planes’ construction. Trump may be thinking about the federal government budget years out, as the current timeline reveals plans for the new Air Force Ones taking upwards of two years — along with an additional two years for modifications.
UPDATE #1: Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer reported on Twitter that Boeing’s current contract does not have a price tag yet:
Boeing tells me AFOne contract does not have a price tag yet. They don't know where $4b figure comes from. I wonder where DT got his info.
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) December 6, 2016
UPDATE #2: Talking Points Memo points out Trump’s tweet came not long after a Chicago Tribune article suggested Boeing may be getting a little nervous about how his tweeting may affect foreign policy — especially with China. The American ally is a multibillion-dollar commercial customer with Boeing. So one can easily assume that Trump may have been lashing out at Boeing in the wake of this report.
(Via CNN, Reuters, Talking Points Memo and Chicago Tribune)