Shares of Boeing slid more than 1 percent in early trade Tuesday after President-elect Donald Trump said the cost of building a new Air Force One plane was too much.
On Tuesday, Trump threatened to cancel its order from Boeing of a new 747 Air Force One, which would be used for future presidents. He said the cost is more than $4 billion.
“Well the plane is totally out of control, it’s going to be over $4 billion for Air Force One program,” Trump said in New York on Tuesday morning. “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.”
Before Trump’s tweet, Boeing was trading at $152.16 a share. After the tweet, it fell 1.6 percent to a low of $149.75 a share, according to FactSet. Shares of Boeing have recovered, but still show impact of Trump’s tweet.
A spokesman for Boeing said the company has no immediate comment on the remarks from Trump, according to Reuters.
In January, Boeing won a contract to start preliminary work on a new fleet of Air Force One presidential aircraft. The Air Force awarded Boeing an initial contract worth nearly $26 million to reduce risk and lower cost, Reuters reported.
The stock is up more than 5 percent year to date.
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Donald Trump wants to cancel a government order for a new Air Force One.
The president-elect said in a tweet early Tuesday that the new Boeing (BA) 747 jet that’s being built to carry “future presidents” already costs more than $4 billion, and that he wants to cancel the order.
“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!”
Asked by reporters Tuesday morning about the tweet, he responded, “We want Boeing to make a lot of money but not that much money.”
The new Air Force One would be a 747-8, rather than the 747-200 which is now in use by President Obama. It has a longer range, can travel faster with a heavier maximum takeoff weight and it gets better fuel economy.
Boeing, which is the nation’s largest exporter, has built the plane used by every president since Franklin Roosevelt. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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