Boeing stocks tumbled Tuesday after president-elect Donald Trump tweeted about canceling a $4bn Air Force One order. But it was a typical Trumpism: the number is plucked out of nowhere, and Boeing was forced to publicize the fact it’s only got the U.S. Government on the hook for $170m, and that the two planes, if ordered, would be $850m each.
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
“The plane is totally out of control. It’s going to be over $4 billion for Air Force One program and I think it’s ridiculous,” he said. “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.”
The president-elect’s most recent financial disclosure form, filed in May and detailing his 2015 holdings, showed that the Manhattan billionaire owned between $50,001 and $100,000 worth of stock in Boeing, a purchase he announced on Twitter in 2013. Jason Miller, a spokesman for Trump, said Tuesday morning that Trump sold all of his stocks last June.
Miller added that the exact details of Trump’s desire to cancel the Boeing order would be dealt with after he is inaugurated next month.
Boeing’s stocks rebounded later in the morning as it became apparent Trump was saying untrue things.
(Maybe he doesn’t want to fly on it. Same as not wanting to live in the White House.)