Can the COMAC C919 survive US tariffs and sanctions?
July 16, 2025
In 2022, the West introduced crushing sanctions on Russia’s aviation industry, essentially forcing it to grind to a halt overnight. Now, the Trump Administration is flirting with doing something similar to China’s aviation industry, particularly its flagship COMAC C919 passenger jet.
On-again, off-again export restrictions
China’s COMAC C919 is a Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo competitor and first entered service in 2024 with Air China, China Eastern, and China Southern.
Inside out, the aircraft is composed of Western-sourced components. Notably, its LEAP-1C engines are Franco-American engines produced by CFM International, a joint venture between Safran and GE Aerospace.
Amid an escalating trade war between the United States and China, Reuters reported in May 2025 that the US was suspending export licenses for the LEAP-1C engines to China.
This was in response to China restricting the export of critical minerals to the United States. The restrictions also suspended some licenses allowing US companies to sell other products and technology to COMAC for the C919.
The engine export ban didn’t last long, and in July, the United States lifted restrictions on exporting LEAP 1C engines.
COMAC had planned to ramp deliveries of the C919 to 50 units in 2025, up from the 13 delivered in 2024. According to Air Data News, in the first six months of 2025, only five have been delivered.
China is developing its own engines for C919
It is unclear if the United States will ultimately move to terminate China’s C919 program or not. The US has plenty of leverage to end its production in the short and even medium term. That said, China is working to develop its own products to replace Western-sourced products in the medium and long term.
Aero Engine Corporation of China is currently developing an indigenous engine for the C919 called the ACAE CJ-1000A. Work began in 2009, the first engine was assembled in late 2017, and the first test run took place in 2018.
A military Xi’an Y-20 aircraft started carrying out tests on the engine in 2023. Global Defense Insight reported that the engine is not expected to be ready until 2030.
A Chinese aircraft running on Western parts
Airframer describes the COMAC C919 as the result of “Chinese-Western joint ventures providing the majority of aircraft systems.” Not only the engines, but also other core systems like avionics and flight controls are also provided by Western companies.
Leading US suppliers include GE Aerospace, Collins Aerospace, Honeywell, Crane Aerospace, and others. GE Aerospace supplies engines, flight recorders, avionics, and flight control systems.
Collins Aerospace supplies mechanical actuators, lighting, ice equipment, controllers, emergency generators, fire systems, inflight entertainment, and more. Honeywell supplies landing gear, fly-by-wire systems, starter generators, computers, APUs, inertial components, and other systems.
As Russia is now discovering, the modern commercial aircraft supply chain is dependent on a few key Western companies. Since sanctions were imposed on Russia’s aviation sector in 2022, no commercial aircraft have been delivered.
In 2022, Russia stated it would deliver 1,000 aircraft of all types by 2030, including 108 in the period 2022-2024. None were delivered save for seven Sukhoi Superjets assembled with pre-stocked components. The first examples with Russian substituted components are not expected until late 2026.
In some cases, there are only a couple of companies in the world able to produce certain critical systems. The DNA of companies like Honeywell and Collins can be found in every modern commercial aircraft in existence.
COMAC had always hoped to offer its narrowbody aircraft at a lower price than the equivalent models from Boeing and Airbus. As tariffs add to the cost and complexity of the COMAC C919 programme, COMAC will struggle to keep a lid on the list price until more domestic parts can be developed.
