China is expected to agree to buy up to 150 Boeing aircraft during US President George W. Bush's visit to Beijing this weekend, a Hong Kong newspaper reported on Saturday.
Aircraft exports by the United States could help offset a ballooning trade deficit with China, which could top $200 billion this year.
China could pay as much as $6.5 billion, after discounts, for up to 150 of Boeing's popular 737 family of aircraft, the South China Morning Post said.
Neither Boeing's Beijing-based spokesman, George Liu, nor its spokesman in Hong Kong, Mark Hooper, would confirm the deal.
The agreement could include previously announced orders, among them China Southern Airlines' planned purchase of 45 planes, the daily said.
Officials from Air China, China Southern, China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines either said they were unaware of new orders to be signed in the near future or were not immediately contactable.
The Post, citing senior aviation sources, said China would also buy up to 400 single-aisle aircraft in the next year to revamp the mainland's ageing short-haul fleet.