WSJ What’s News - Boeing Gears Up to Take On Airbus

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

A.M. Edition for Sept. 30. The federal government is careening toward a shutdown after congressional leaders from both parties met with President Trump to try to hash out a deal—but emerged with no breakthrough. WSJ White House reporter Natalie Andrews explains what will make this shutdown different from others. Plus, WSJ aviation reporter Ben Katz has the inside scoop on Boeing’s plans for a new narrow-body plane. And, what exactly is warrior ethos? We detail today’s meeting of the U.S. military top brass in Quantico. Caitlin McCabe hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Over 500,000 new listings every month based on average new for sale and rental listings, February 24 through January, 2025. The federal government barrels toward a shutdown after party leaders leave the White House without a deal. Plus, the Trump administration escalates its fight against the nation's oldest and wealthiest university, Harvard. And Boeing throws down the gauntlet and begins work on a new plane to replace the troubled 737 max. So this really is a pivotal moment in Boeing's history, essentially, where they've faced this loss of market share, they've lost their crown to airbus. And now they're looking at how they can find back. It's Tuesday, September 30th.

I'm Caitlin McCabe for the Wall Street Journal. And here's the AM edition of What's News. The top headlines and business stories moving your world today. We begin in Washington, where the federal government is careening toward a shutdown. Yesterday, congressional leaders from both parties met with President Trump to try to hash out a deal, but emerged with no breakthrough. Barring some sort of miraculous agreement in the Senate, the government will likely shut down Tuesday night. Funding for the government expires at midnight. That's Wall Street Journal political correspondent Natalie Andrews. She says Republicans are holding firm on their seven-week stop-gap

bill to keep the government funded, while Democrats say they won't give their support unless billions of dollars and health care spending is restored. Democrats are saying, no good. You didn't with us, we have some leverage, and we want to use it. And so they're kind of at this just total gridlock. While Republicans have a 53 to 47 majority in the Senate, they don't have the 60 votes needed to pass a spending bill. Without a deal, the government will shut down at 1201 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, furlowing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and halting key operations. For Wall Street, that means the all-important jobs report likely won't be released on Friday. In holding firm, Democrats are making an important political calculation. They say if

health insurance subsidies aren't extended, millions of Affordable Care Act users will see their bill sore, often by hundreds of dollars or more a year. But as Natalie explains, a shutdown could inflict other pain on Americans. The Office of Management and Budget has signaled that in addition to putting federal employees on leave, they will be. looking at ways to essentially fire federal employees. And those cuts will be permanent, which has never happened in the past decade or so as we've covered government shutdowns. So even though you have a lot of federal workers on furlough, they've generally gotten back pay. And things like national parks have stayed open so that if people have vacations planned or things like that,

they aren't just totally ruined and caught off guard. For Wall Street, this means traders will be watching just how this political wrangling unfolds and what its impact on the U.S. economy might be. Yesterday, gold hit a new record high as investors waged the risks of a potential shutdown. The Trump administration is escalating its fight with Harvard University by starting a process called debarment that could make the university ineligible for federal grants over allegations of anti-Semitism on campus. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that the government had to restore $2.2 billion in research funding to Harvard that the government had frozen earlier this year. This path to possible debarring

would essentially declare the university unfit to do business with the government, which is another way the White House can seek to cut off funds. An administration official said the White House doesn't believe Harvard has sufficiently addressed anti-Semitism on campus. A Harvard spokesman did not have an immediate comment. We've learned that YouTube has a great agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump over the suspension of his account after the Capitol riot in 2021. White House reporter Annie Lindsky says this is the last of three similar settlements from YouTube, Meta, and X, bringing the total from these cases to over $80 million. Legal experts we talked to have said is there's more of a business reason

for these companies to be settling with the president because it allows them to kind of put behind them this litigation and show sort of a sense of goodwill to exact retribution on companies or entities that he finds to be in his crosshairs. According to court papers, most of the YouTube settlement has been earmarked for the construction of a Mara Lago-style ballroom that Trump is building at the White House. And the journal is exclusively reporting that Boeing is planning a new narrow-body airplane that would succeed the 737 max. The plan is very much still coming together from Boeing side. But what we've managed to pick out are kind of a few different pieces of evidence really showing what this new plane could really look like. So we're talking brand new engines

that could be 10 to 20 percent more fuel efficient. We're looking at ultra-thin wings. We're talking about a redesigned flight deck and control system. That's journal aviation reporter Ben Katz. He told us that the development of a new single-isle plane marks a long-term bid by Boeing to recover business loss to rival Airbus during its series of safety and quality problems. The plane Boeing is working on is a replacement for the 737 Max. The 737 Max is the workhorse of the global aviation industry. It competes in the segment with Airbus on the A320. The two of them dominate aircraft sales.

They dominate percentage of flights. What this really represents for Boeing is them throwing the gauntlet down at Airbus' feet. They're saying, you know, we're not giving up. You guys have taken a lot of market share of us. but aerospace industry is a long-term game. And if we start working on something now, we could have something to release in the next decade or so that could start clawing back the market share that Boeing has lost to Airbus over a series of crises. So this really is potentially a pivotal moment in Boeing's history, essentially, where they've faced this loss

of market chair, they've lost their crown to Airbus, and now they're looking at how they can fight back. Boeing's chief executive officer Kelly Orpirk hasn't publicly detailed any plans for a successor to the 737, saying that he continues to prioritize fixing the company's long-running quality problems and shoring up its balance sheet. Coming up, hundreds of military leaders are gathering with President Trump in Virginia today for a highly unusual meeting called by Defense Secretary Pete Heggseth. But what exactly are they doing there? We unpack that question after the break. Viking committed to exploring the world in comfort. Journey through the heart of Europe, on an elegant Viking longship with thoughtful service,

cultural enrichment, and all-inclusive fares. Discover more at viking.com. The president and roughly 800 of America's top military commanders are converging on a marine base in Quantico, Virginia today for a highly unusual meeting convened by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The gathering is the culmination of frustrations by Hegseth that his quote, Warrior Ethos Agenda isn't being implemented quickly enough and comes as his management of the department has faced scrutiny from lawmakers. Wall Street Journal reporter Shelby, Shelby, I think when news of this meeting came out last week, it raised a bunch of alarm bells.

It's not every day we see meetings like this, but it turns out it's all about something perhaps a bit more mild called Warrior Ethos. What is that? It really remains to be seen. But you're right, when this invitation came out, there was no reason given for. for the meeting. So it set off all kinds of speculation among senior officials about what this meeting was about. So at first there was a lot of concern that it could involve some sort of mass firing of the top brass. But after President Trump commented on the meeting and said it was more about talking about how great everyone's doing and it sort of seemed like it was a morale boosting

meeting, that concern has died down a bit. Some of the senior officials I've been talking to think maybe they'll hear a bit more about the new national defense strategy that lays out the administration's priorities. That is due any day. And so it would make sense that that could be talked about. But we are also, you know, reporting that Secretary Huggseth plans to give this speech about the warrior ethos. And it's unclear what that will entail. Some inside and outside the administration think maybe this meeting is just about Secretary Hegseth getting ahead of some embarrassing news, which is an inspector general report on his handling of classified information. If you remember those signal chats back in the spring, that's expected soon too.

Yeah, those signal chats made a bunch of headlines earlier this year, but that's only one piece of criticism that Hegseth has faced since stepping into this role, right? Yeah, so back in the spring when the U.S. was launching Operation Rough Rider, which was a campaign against the Houthis in Yemen, Secretary Hegseth put details that many believed were classified into a signal chat. And that signal chat included people who did not have security clearances. So there's been a lot of concern that he was sharing classified information illegally, and that is the subject of an IGU. report currently. And that has led to a lot of criticism of his management style, because he has turned around and really cracked down on leakers in the Pentagon. There have been lots of discussions about lie detector tests. People have been fired for leaking. Yet he, the secretary of the entire department, has been putting information in signal chats that many believe was totally inappropriate.

So that's been a big problem. And others in the building also think he might feel a bit overshadowed by some of his secretaries and top generals and military officials. For example, when the U.S. carried out that pretty incredible attack against Iran, it was the chairman of the joint chiefs that was said to be heavily involved in that and not Secretary Hegsa. Shelby, I also have to ask about the logistical coordination for a meeting like this. I mean, 800 of the top military brass coming to Quantico. How much of a scramble is this?

It is a huge effort to get everyone here. We know that they've been told to wear their dress uniforms, but some who have been traveling and haven't been able to go back and get their dress uniforms may have to show up in something else. And I've been asking officials how they're getting to this location. And that is an operational security issue. Nobody wants to talk about how they're flying or traveling. However, we know it's going to cost millions of dollars.

We're talking hundreds of officials from all over the world coming to one location with the president of the United States. I'm sure that security alone is going to be. be a super steep bill. So the logistics are definitely interesting here. Super fascinating. That's Wall Street Journal reporter Shelby Holiday. Shelby, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. And that's it for what's news for this Tuesday morning. Today's show is produced by Kate Bullivant and Roma McKenna. Our supervising producer is Sandra Kilhoff. And I'm Caitlin McCabe for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back tonight with the new show.

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