US President-elect Donald Trump has extracted a promise from Boeing Co's chief executive that the cost of replacing Air Force One would not exceed $US4 billion ($A5.5 billion), his latest move to use the bully pulpit to pressure companies to help advance his economic agenda.
Trump met with Boeing's Dennis Muilenburg and Marillyn Hewson, chief executive of Lockheed Martin Corp on Wednesday.
He's made an example of both defence companies since his November 8 election, sending defence shares tumbling with his complaints about projects he said are too expensive.
Trump paraded the two CEOs in front of the cameras at the ornate front door of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending Christmas.
"Trying to get the costs down, costs. Primarily the (Lockheed Martin) F-35, we're trying to get the cost down. It's a program that's very, very expensive," Trump told reporters after the meeting with the CEOs and a dozen Pentagon officials involved with defence acquisition programs.
Trump takes office on January 20 and has vowed to address government procurement costs as part of his industrial policy, which also includes taking a hard line on Chinese trade practices and renegotiating multilateral trade deals.
Also on Wednesday Trump named economist Peter Navarro, who has urged a hard line on China, to head up his White House team on industrial policy.
He also appointed billionaire investor Carl Icahn as a special adviser on regulatory issues, and said Icahn would help him choose the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
