Attention Boeing Investors: Don't Worry About Trump's Trade War With China

Boeing Co (NYSE: BA) will naturally be one of the most notable victims of any retaliatory action taken by the Chinese government in response to any potential future trade war initiated by President-elect Donald Trump.

This line of thought does hold some merit given the fact that the airplane maker is among a handful of U.S.-based companies with an annual revenue base of more than $5 billion from China. However, Gadfly's David Fickling made the case that China's business isn't all that important to Boeing as a whole.

So Much More Than China

According to Fickling, Chinese airliners as a whole account for 292 undelivered aircraft orders, which represents just 5.5 percent of Boeing's total outstanding orders. The same holds true for Boeing's largest competitor, Airbus, whose total outstanding orders from Chinese clients amount to just 4.4 percent of its worldwide outstanding orders.

Put into perspective, just one client in India alone, SpiceJet Ltd., is close to finalizing a deal to order 92 of Boeing's 737s airplanes. This one order alone is about one third of the size of all outstanding Chinese orders.

Bottom line, all the Chinese airlines combined is roughly equal in size to Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE: LUV) and Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ: RYAAY).