Trump says Canada’s Bombardier cannot sell in US unless it builds there
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About half of the fleet of 5,100 aircraft operated by customers of Canadian business jet maker Bombardier is located in the US.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said on Sept 7 that Canadian private jet maker Bombardier would no longer be allowed to sell its planes in the United States unless it started manufacturing in the country.
“NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their products aren’t good enough!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank’,” he said.
Trump made the post as a trade dispute between Washington and Ottawa escalates, part of the near-global tariff wall in his second term that has drawn complaints from many US trading partners.
Canada is set to introduce a wave of counter tariffs against the United States on Sept 8.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how Trump would enforce the action or the steps he would take to bar deliveries of Bombardier jets, which have been approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The planemaker’s jets also comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada trade deal that Trump helped implement.
US aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia said he did not believe any business jet customers would cancel Bombardier orders and did not see how Trump could stop them from being sold.
Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace management consulting firm, pointed out that most Bombardier private jets use US engines, which are produced by both Honeywell Aerospace and GE Aerospace.
Aerospace has largely emerged unscathed from Trump’s tariff war, with the flow of parts and planes not currently impacted by duties.
According to US trade group Aerospace Industries Association, the country’s aerospace and defence sector has a US$109.2 billion (S$138 billion) trade surplus, with exports up 25 per cent on an annual basis in 2025.
Like the US auto sector, which depends on parts production by its northern neighbour, aerospace is highly integrated on a global scale.
Bombardier, the Montreal-based rival of US business jet manufacturer Gulfstream Aerospace, has an American workforce of 3,500, and a US footprint of 2,800 suppliers, along with factories and service centres in the country.
The company is now adding its sixth US service centre and produces wings for its flagship Global 8000 jet in Texas.
Bombardier said in a statement late on Sept 7 that it spends more than US$2.5 billion with US suppliers each year.
“Our plan is to continue to invest in our people, our customers and the communities in which we operate across the country,” the company said of the United States.
Bombardier also has a defence division with a US-based factory in Kansas where it prepares Canadian-manufactured planes for special mission purposes.
About half of the fleet of 5,100 aircraft operated by Bombardier customers are located in the US.
In January, Trump said the US was decertifying Bombardier Global Express business jets and threatened 50 per cent import tariffs on all aircraft made in Canada until the country’s regulator certified a number of planes produced by US rival Gulfstream.
Neither occurred, but the following month Canada certified several Gulfstream planes.
In July, Bombardier reported that its quarterly revenue grew 6 per cent compared with the same three months a year ago to US$2.15 billion, helped by strong demand for aftermarket services.
REUTERS
