分类： business

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from his bilateral summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, former U.S. President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement Friday: U.S. aerospace giant Boeing is set to secure its first major sale to China in nearly a decade, anchored by a 200-aircraft order. Trump added that the preliminary agreement includes a Chinese reservation for up to 750 Boeing aircraft total, a deal he framed as a key win from the high-stakes Beijing meeting.

Neither the Chinese government nor Boeing has issued an official statement confirming the proposed transaction, which would mark a critical turning point for the U.S. manufacturer, for whom China was once a core pillar of long-term global growth. Boeing Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg was among the cohort of top American business leaders who traveled with Trump to China, part of a broader delegation pushing to expand U.S. goods and services access to the massive Chinese market. Trump also noted the deal would deliver secondary gains to industrial conglomerate General Electric, which he says will supply between 400 and 450 aircraft engines for the order. GE Aerospace CEO H. Lawrence Culp also joined the presidential trip, but the company has not issued any immediate comment on the reported agreement.

The Trump administration has centered Boeing as a key asset in its broader strategy to revitalize American manufacturing in recent years, a push that already delivered large commercial jet orders from Qatar and Saudi Arabia during a 2023 Middle East presidential visit. Still, the lack of formal confirmation from all involved parties has left industry analysts cautious about the actual scope of any potential agreement. Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, noted that while many observers hoped the Xi-Trump summit would produce concrete, public deal announcements, the trip ended with deep uncertainty over the actual terms of any bilateral commercial agreements.

“All we have right now is the announcement the president made to the world that China agreed to this,” Glaser told reporters during a Friday media briefing. “We really have to wait for official numbers from Boeing or the Chinese government to confirm this. This is not an isolated case—we still have no concrete details on reported agreements for soy, liquefied natural gas, and beef either.”

For Boeing, a breakthrough in China could not come at a more pivotal moment. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, roughly one in every three narrowbody aircraft Boeing delivered globally went to Chinese operators. But that business collapsed sharply as geopolitical tensions drove a steady deterioration in U.S.-China trade relations over the past several years. Even ahead of the summit, Ortberg expressed optimism that any broad trade deal reached between Trump and Xi would open a meaningful new opportunity for Boeing, noting that the administration has prioritized supporting the company’s international growth efforts.

Ortberg stepped into the CEO role in 2024, a year marked by cascading crises for the 108-year-old manufacturer. In January 2024, an Alaska Airlines-operated 737 MAX suffered a mid-flight emergency when a door plug blew off the fuselage shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, triggering widespread public and regulatory scrutiny over allegations of systemic production and quality control failures at the company, which sent its financial position under growing strain. Months later, the U.S. Department of Justice reopened a criminal investigation into Boeing linked to two deadly fatal 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people between 2018 and 2019. The case ultimately concluded with a deferred agreement that saw Boeing pay an additional $1.1 billion in fines, victim compensation, and commit to sweeping internal safety and quality overhauls.

To cap off the turbulent year, more than 30,000 machinists at Boeing’s 737 MAX assembly facility in Renton, Washington, staged an eight-week work stoppage that stretched through the fall of 2024, disrupting production lines and piling further financial pressure on the already struggling company.

One of the world’s wealthiest individuals, Indian conglomerate leader Gautam Adani, has closed a high-stakes civil case with U.S. regulators through an $18 million joint penalty settlement with his nephew, Sagar Adani, even as federal prosecutors prepare to dismiss related criminal fraud charges in a surprising policy shift under the second Trump administration.

The civil resolution stems from a 2024 enforcement action brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which alleged that the Adanis paid improper bribes to Indian government officials to secure major renewable energy project contracts. The regulator also claimed the pair misled U.S.-based investors about the conglomerate’s anti-bribery compliance protocols when launching a $750 million bond offering, roughly a quarter of which — $175 million — was raised from American investors.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, neither Gautam Adani, chairman of the sprawling Adani Group, nor his nephew are required to admit or deny the SEC’s allegations. The agreement does, however, permanently bar the two men from future violations of core U.S. securities laws that prohibit investor deception, fraudulent trading, and market manipulation. The deal still requires formal approval from a federal judge to take effect.

News of the civil settlement triggered an immediate positive reaction from global markets, with publicly traded Adani Group shares posting noticeable gains during Friday trading sessions.

The Adani Group, one of India’s largest diversified business conglomerates, maintains operations across a wide range of critical sectors, including renewable and traditional energy, port infrastructure, and airport management. The conglomerate has repeatedly rejected the SEC’s claims as unfounded since they were first filed. Gautam Adani, 63, boasts an estimated net worth of $82 billion according to Forbes, placing him among the top 10 wealthiest people globally.

In a parallel development reported Thursday by major international news outlets including The New York Times, Reuters, and Bloomberg, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is moving to dismiss the separate criminal fraud case against the Indian billionaire.

The DOJ’s about-face follows a high-profile strategic shift by Adani, who retained a new legal team led by prominent Washington power attorney Robert J. Giuffra Jr. Giuffra, who leads one of the most influential law firms in the United States, previously served as one of former President Donald Trump’s personal legal advisors, most recently leading Trump’s appeal of his conviction in the New York hush-money criminal case.

Per The New York Times’ reporting, Giuffra held a closed-door meeting with senior DOJ officials last month to outline his client’s objections to the criminal prosecution. During that meeting, Giuffra also reiterated a public pledge Adani made to Trump shortly after his 2024 presidential election victory: the conglomerate would invest $10 billion in U.S. infrastructure and projects, creating an estimated 15,000 American jobs, if the criminal charges were dropped.

Sources familiar with the decision told the Times that the planned dismissal aligns with a broader policy shift by the second Trump administration to deprioritize prosecution of foreign bribery cases under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The BBC has reached out to both the DOJ and Adani Group for official comment on the developments, as of press time.

NEW DELHI – In a long-awaited policy shift triggered by spiking global crude costs, India implemented a 3-rupee ($0.03) per liter increase in retail fuel prices on Friday, marking the first major pass-through of global energy market volatility to domestic consumers in one of the world’s largest emerging economies.

Following the adjustment, retail gasoline in New Delhi now costs 97.77 rupees ($1.17) per liter, while diesel, the fuel that powers most of India’s commercial and freight sectors, has climbed to 90.67 rupees ($1.09) per liter.

As a nation that relies on imports for roughly 90% of its total crude oil demand, India has faced extreme pressure on its energy budget and foreign exchange reserves amid ongoing supply disruptions tied to the Iran war and repeated closures of the critical Strait of Hormuz chokepoint. Until Friday, New Delhi had kept retail fuel prices frozen despite months of skyrocketing global energy costs, making it the last major global economy to avoid passing crude price increases on to end consumers.

The price adjustment comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a national call for voluntary energy austerity, framing fuel conservation and foreign exchange savings as an act of national patriotism. In his address Sunday, Modi urged Indian citizens to work from home wherever feasible, cut back on non-essential international travel, reduce gold purchases, and expand adoption of public transit and carpooling. He also called for reduced fertilizer use across the agricultural sector to further cut import costs.

Opposition political leaders have been quick to criticize the timing of both the fuel price hike and Modi’s austerity appeal, noting that retail prices were kept artificially frozen through the entirety of a key round of state elections, only moving upward once voting concluded.

The fuel price increase is just the latest in a series of policy moves to shore up India’s strained foreign exchange reserves, which have come under heavy pressure as the Indian rupee has slid to repeated record lows in recent weeks. Earlier this week, New Delhi raised import duties on gold and silver to 15% to dampen consumer demand for the precious metals, which are one of the country’s largest import categories after crude oil.

India’s national capital has already become the first subnational government to roll out formal austerity measures to cut fuel consumption. On Thursday, New Delhi’s local government announced a 90-day fuel-saving campaign that includes mandatory two-day work-from-home arrangements for all government employees whose roles can be completed remotely. Private sector companies are being encouraged to adopt the same policy voluntarily. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the initiative is designed to cut official fuel consumption and encourage residents to shift from private cars to public transit.

To reduce long-term dependence on imported crude, India has also accelerated its national program to blend ethanol into gasoline. Most fuel retail outlets across the country now offer E20 gasoline, which contains 20% ethanol, and the federal government has proposed expanding access to higher-blend fuels including E85 (85% ethanol) and even pure E100 ethanol for compatible vehicles.

Energy analysts have cautioned that while expanded biofuel blending can reduce India’s exposure to global energy market shocks, it carries significant trade-offs. Increased ethanol production, which is largely sourced from food crops including sugarcane in India, could put additional pressure on already overexploited groundwater reserves, divert agricultural land away from food production, and cause damage to the engines of older vehicles not designed to run on high-ethanol blends.

AP journalist Sibi Arasu in Bengaluru contributed reporting to this article.

HONG KONG – Global financial markets swung between caution and volatility on Friday, as investors tracked two high-stakes developments: ongoing tensions tied to the ongoing conflict in Iran and the final day of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s summit in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The day’s trading saw most major Asian equity indexes pull back after early gains, even as U.S. markets had just closed out a second consecutive day of record highs.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225, which had climbed in early morning trading, ended the session down 1.2% at 61,880.04. South Korea’s benchmark Kospi turned in the day’s steepest loss: after crossing the 8,000 threshold for the first time in history to hit an all-time peak of 8,046.78, fueled in large part by investor enthusiasm for the global artificial intelligence boom, the index erased all its gains to close 3.2% lower at 7,727.34. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.9% to 26,145.66, while mainland China’s Shanghai Composite bucked the downward trend to notch a modest 0.1% gain, settling at 4,183.05. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.1% to 8,629.70, Taiwan’s Taiex slid 0.5%, and India’s Sensex edged 0.1% higher. U.S. stock futures also ticked downward in early Asian trading, following the previous day’s record closes on Wall Street.

Friday marked the conclusion of Trump’s visit to China, where his meetings with Xi covered a range of topics from bilateral trade and expanded economic cooperation to the Taiwan issue. Investors are closely watching for updates on potential trade agreements covering key U.S. exports including soybeans, beef, and commercial aircraft. While broader market sentiment holds moderate optimism for improved U.S.-China relations, leading economic analysts are urging caution around any announced deals.

In a research note published Friday, Capital Economics China economists Leahy Fahy and Julian Evans-Pritchard noted that many of the headline projects and investment commitments announced during Trump’s 2017 visit to China never came to fruition, after bilateral tensions spiked dramatically in the years following that trip. Trump also recently noted in an interview that China could resume purchases of U.S. crude oil, more than a year after Beijing halted imports in response to hefty trade tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

Energy markets also moved higher on Friday, as oil prices climbed in response to stalled negotiations between Washington and Tehran to end the ongoing Iran conflict, alongside fresh security incidents involving commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf region. A ship anchored off the United Arab Emirates was seized, and another cargo vessel was attacked near Oman, adding to existing supply concerns. International benchmark Brent crude rose 1.3% to trade at $107.06 per barrel, a sharp jump from the roughly $70 per barrel price point seen before the Iran conflict began in late February. U.S. benchmark crude climbed 1.4% to $102.56 per barrel.

Global energy supplies remain tight after the Strait of Hormuz — a critical chokepoint for 20% of global oil and gas trade — remains largely closed, and the U.S. has enforced a sea blockade on Iranian ports that began last month. Following Thursday’s bilateral meeting between Trump and Xi, the White House announced that both leaders had agreed the Strait of Hormuz must be kept open for international commerce.

On Thursday, U.S. equities extended their winning streak to record territory. The benchmark S&P 500 gained 0.8% to close at 7,501.24, notching an all-time high for the second straight day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 0.7% to settle at 50,063.46, marking the first time the index closed above 50,000 since the outbreak of the Iran conflict. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite added 0.9% to close at 26,635.22.

Tech stocks led much of the gains on Wall Street: Cisco Systems shares jumped 13.4% after the networking giant reported better-than-expected quarterly results and announced plans to cut fewer than 4,000 jobs. AI chip leader Nvidia gained 4.4%, as investor optimism grew around potential updates on sales of its advanced H200 AI chips to Chinese clients, amid CEO Jensen Huang’s visit to Beijing alongside Trump.

In currency markets, the U.S. dollar edged slightly higher against the Japanese yen, rising to 158.50 yen from 158.37 yen in the previous trading session. The euro slipped modestly to $1.1651, down from $1.1669. AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed reporting to this article.

Court filings made public Thursday have confirmed that the U.S. government has reached a civil settlement in a high-profile fraud lawsuit against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, leaders of the global energy conglomerate Adani Green Energy Limited. The case, filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in late 2024, centers on allegations that the pair misled international investors by hiding a large-scale alleged bribery scheme tied to the company’s massive Indian solar energy project. According to the SEC’s original complaint, the Adanis promised hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government officials in exchange for lucrative public contracts that guaranteed inflated rates for energy purchased from the company. At the same time, the conglomerate raised billions of dollars in capital from Wall Street investors, who were falsely assured that the firm maintained a rigorous anti-bribery compliance framework and that senior leadership had committed to no corrupt practices. The SEC asserts these actions directly violated U.S. securities law anti-fraud provisions. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Gautam Adani will pay $6 million in civil penalties, while Sagar Adani will pay $12 million. Critically, the agreement does not require either defendant to admit guilt to the allegations brought by the SEC. The Adani Group has repeatedly denied all claims since the lawsuit was filed, describing them as entirely baseless, and requests for comment from the Adanis’ legal teams Thursday went unanswered. Alongside the civil settlement, multiple major U.S. news outlets including The New York Times and Bloomberg reported Thursday that the criminal securities fraud and conspiracy charges brought against the pair in a New York federal court in late 2024 are expected to be dropped. Requests for confirmation from prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York have not yet been returned. The impending dismissal of criminal charges follows a sequence of events that many observers see as a clear foreshadowing of the move, starting after former President Donald Trump won a second term in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, an outcome Gautam Adani publicly praised extensively. In March 2025, Trump issued an executive order suspending enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the federal law that bans U.S.-linked companies from paying bribes to foreign officials to secure business deals. The move immediately led to widespread speculation in Indian business and political circles that the entire Adani prosecution would be derailed. For decades, Gautam Adani has built one of the world’s largest personal fortunes and emerged as one of India’s most powerful business figures. He got his start building a coal business in the 1990s, before expanding the Adani Group into a sprawling conglomerate with holdings across critical sectors including renewable energy, defense, and agriculture. Marketing itself under the slogan “Growth with Goodness,” the group has built one of the world’s largest renewable energy portfolios, totaling more than 20 gigawatts of installed capacity, including a massive solar power plant in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The firm has publicly committed to investing $70 billion in new clean energy projects by 2032, with a stated goal of becoming India’s largest clean energy producer by 2030. Adani’s career has long been marked by controversy, however. His well-documented close political ties to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling national government have repeatedly drawn accusations of crony capitalism, with critics claiming he has secured unfair preferential treatment for government contracts, claims the Adani Group has consistently denied. In 2023, U.S.-based short seller Hindenburg Research released a scathing report accusing Adani and his conglomerate of “brazen stock manipulation” and systemic accounting fraud, claims the group dismissed as a malicious set of outdated, discredited, and selective misinformation. This latest U.S. legal action has already had global ripple effects on Adani’s international business: after the original indictment was announced in Brooklyn, Kenya’s president scrapped hundreds of millions of dollars in planned contracts with the Adani Group for airport modernization and energy infrastructure. Adani Green Energy was also forced to withdraw planned wind energy projects from Sri Lanka after the country moved to renegotiate contracted pricing, while a major French energy giant paused all new planned investments in Adani-led projects. Market analysts note that Adani’s decades-long rapid rise to power has been largely driven by his ability to align the Adani Group’s strategic priorities with the policy goals of the Modi government, a dynamic that has kept him at the center of Indian political and economic life even as controversy has followed his career. The impending end of the U.S. criminal case marks a major turning point in the legal saga, though questions about the conglomerate’s business practices and political ties remain unresolved.