Visitors look at a model of GE's aircraft engine displayed at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, East China. Photo: Xinhua

The US appears to be wobbling over a possible ban on sales of jet engines to China, as a trade embargo on the world's second-biggest aviation market that just can't be missed is a hard decision to make for the Trump administration, according to an industry veteran. 

In a series of tweets late Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said that the US can't and won't "become such a difficult place to deal with in terms of foreign countries buying our product, including for the always used National Security excuse," and he wants China to buy US-made engines and chipsets.

Trump's remarks contradicted media reports of a ban being considered to block sales of jet engines co-produced by General Electric Co for China's C919 aircraft.

"The administration may decline to issue a license allowing CFM International, a joint venture of GE and France's Safran SA, to export more of its LEAP 1C jet engines to China," the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing unidentified sources.

In addition to the potential engine sales restriction, there might possibly be "limits on other components for Chinese commercial aircraft such as flight control systems made by Honeywell International Inc," Reuters reported over the weekend. 

The LEAP 1C jet engines powering China's domestic airliner C919, Airbus A320neo, and Boeing 737 Max jets have already been extensively delivered. It seems unreasonable that the US government would rush to a decision to halt deliveries of jet engines to China while it's evidently continuing to encourage sales of Boeing aircraft using the same engines to China, according to Wang Yanan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine.

It could be the case that there are some hardliners within the government who hope to hold back China's progress on the development and manufacturing of its indigenous aircraft as a shift toward other engine options would inevitably weigh on the delivery of the C919 jetliner, Wang told the Global Times.

Nonetheless, it's a tough decision to make on the side of the Trump administration, considering that China demand matters greatly for Boeing, he stressed, adding that it is not in the interests of US suppliers to be forced out of the Chinese market. 

In a statement sent to the Global Times on Monday, GE said it is "working actively with the US government to obtain the export license for C919 engines."