On the campaign trail, Donald Trump threatened to impose a 45 percent tariff on goods coming from China if he won the election. It was part of a political strategy to gain votes from Americans who feel like they have lost out to the forces of globalization.

But following through on that threat would likely start a trade war that could hurt American companies as well as the Chinese.

CCTV America’s Daniel Ryntjes reports. Follow Daniel Ryntjes on Twitter @danielryntjes

Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited on of the largest building in the world, Boeing’s Everett airplane assembly factory in Washington State. At that time, September 2015, few would have predicted that real estate billionaire Donald J. Trump would ascend to the U.S. presidency on the strength of a populist message to “Make America Great Again.”

On the campaign trail, he promised to be tough on trade, favoring a 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods.

After the election victory, the Chinese Global Times newspaper published an editorial calling for ‘tit-for-tat’ measures if Trump makes good on his “tough on trade” promise, such as restricting the sale of American cars, Apple iPhones

That’s prompted the man who hosted President Xi on his Boeing tour last year, company Vice Chairman Ray Conner to point out that Boeing contracts with Chinese airliners currently support some 150,000 American jobs.

Boeing also calculates that Chinese airlines will need nearly 7,000 planes over the next two decades, worth more than $1 trillion.

Trump has promised to adhere to U.S. and international trade law and he also thrives on his reputation as a deal-maker.

During his transition, Donald Trump has appointed several wealthy business executives to serve in his administration. But it’s unclear how they will advise him on trade with China.

And some in the U.S. business community worry that Trump’s unpredictable and combative personality could result in lost opportunities to profit from an evolved US-China trade relationship.

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Mike Boyd on the US-China sales in aviation

Amid renewed anti-China rhetoric, how many U.S. jobs are directly linked to trade or sales to China? To learn more about the economic activities in the aviation industry between the two countries, CCTV America’s Mike Walter spoke with Mike Boyd, aviation analyst for Boyd Group Aviation Consulting.