Trump amps up trade war with Canada by targeting Bombardier

By Lynn Chaya
and

Dorcas Marfo
Updated: January 30, 2026 


U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to impose steep tariffs on Canadian-made aircraft, escalating a dispute over aviation certification that he claims has unfairly blocked U.S. jet sales in Canada.

Trump made the threat in a social media post Thursday, accusing Canada of “wrongfully” refusing to certify several models of U.S.-made Gulfstream jets and calling the process a barrier to U.S. aircraft sales north of the border.

Trump said his administration would respond by decertifying Canadian-made aircraft in the U.S., including jets produced by Bombardier, unless Canada moves to approve the Gulfstream models.

He also warned that if the issue is not “immediately corrected,” the U.S. will impose a 50 per cent tariff on any aircraft sold from Canada into the U.S. market, a move that could have major implications for the aerospace sector on both sides of the border.

Jet planes are assembled at Bombardier's aircraft assembly centre in Mississauga, Ont., on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan

Bombardier released a statement late Thursday night, acknowledging that they’ve seen Trump’s post and are in contact with the federal government.

“Our aircraft, facilities and technicians are fully certified to FAA standards and renowned around the world,” the company said, mentioning that they are investing in expanding their U.S. operations.


“We hope this is quickly resolved to avoid a significant impact to air traffic and the flying public,” Bombardier added.

Bombardier and Gulfstream are longtime rivals in the global business jet market, competing directly in the large-cabin, long-range category favoured by corporate and government clients – the same models cited in Trump’s social media post

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Workers and media take pictures as the new Bombardier Global 8000 high-speed business jet is presented at an event celebrating its entry-into-service at the company's aircraft assembly centre in Mississauga, Ont., on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan

Among them are the Gulfstream G500 and G600, which entered service earlier and are widely used by corporate and government operators, as well as the newer G700 and G800, the company’s flagship long-range jets.

Bombardier, headquartered in Montreal, manufactures the Global series of business jets and is one of Canada’s largest aerospace employers.

The Gulfstream aircraft compete directly with Bombardier’s jets, including the Global 6500, Global 7500 and Global 8000, which dominate the same long-range category and are already certified for operation in both Canada and the U.S.

Certification determines whether aircraft can be sold, registered and flown in a country. Any delay or refusal can put manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage.

CTV’s aviation specialist Phyl Durdey says Trump does not have the ability to decertify the aircraft them without an investigation.
Trump has no authority to decertify aircraft: expert

CTV News aviation expert Phyl Durdey pushed back on U.S. threats to target Canada’s aviation sector, saying Trump has no authority to “arbitrarily” decertify Canadian aircraft.

In an interview with CTV News Channel on Thursday, Durdey said the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certifies or decertifies all aircraft in the U.S.

He also noted that the U.S. has “lots of operating aircraft that are supplied from Canada,” with thousands of Canadian-built jets flying south of the border, too.

The U.S. military itself relies on Bombardier aircraft, using a fleet of modified Global Express jets known as the BACN aircraft or Air Force E-11A, one of which is currently being deployed to the Middle East.

Durdey warned any move against Bombardier would hurt U.S. economic interests as much as it would Canada’s.

Lynn Chaya

CTVNews.ca Breaking Digital Assignment Editor

Dorcas Marfo
CTVNews.ca Journalist

Experts question U.S. president’s threat to decertify new Canadian planes

ByThe Canadian Press

Updated: January 30, 2026 

MONTREAL — Experts are casting doubt on U.S. President Donald Trump’s ability to ban new Canadian-made aircraft from American skies in a proposed move that would deal a blow to plane makers, airlines and travellers on both sides of the border.

Regulatory authority for plane certification in the U.S. rests with the Federal Aviation Administration, former Canadian Transportation Agency member Jean-Denis Pelletier said.

“The FAA is controlling the certification,” he said. “Mr. Trump has no authority to do that.”

Added John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University: “The president doesn’t decertify; the FAA decertifies.”

On Thursday, Trump singled out Bombardier Inc. in a threat to decertify and tariff Canadian-made aircraft, marking the latest escalation of trade tensions between the two countries.

The president inaccurately alleged in a Truth Social post that Canada has refused to certify four types of business jets made by Bombardier-rival Gulfstream, based in Savannah, Ga., framing the decision to hold off as illegal. Canada has certified two — the G500 and the G600, but not the G700 or G800.

“We are hereby decertifying their Bombardier Global Expresses, and all Aircraft made in Canada, until such time as Gulfstream, a Great American Company, is fully certified, as it should have been many years ago,” Trump said.

The U.S. administration later tempered that statement, indicating the ban would apply only to new aircraft rather than the more than 5,400 Canadian-built planes and helicopters registered in the United States.

“Subsequent clarifications by administration officials suggest that Canadian-made aircraft in operation already would not be grounded due to a move to decertify,” said National Bank analyst Cameron Doerksen in a report. A White House official confirmed to The Canadian Press that only aircraft that have yet to roll off the assembly line would be affected.

Aircraft constructed in Canada include Bombardier luxury jets and regional planes, A220 single-aisle jets made by French aerospace giant Airbus and helicopters from Texas-based Bell Textron. De Havilland Aircraft of Canada also produces the Dash 8-400 turboprop along with a number of other aircraft.

Historically, plane groundings by regulators have related strictly to safety, such as the Boeing 737 Max 8 being banned from the skies for 20 months during the first Trump administration.

“Threatening action by a safety regulator for political purposes would set a dangerous precedent in the aerospace industry — the FAA may not even have legal authority to ground a plane at the whim of the president,” Doerksen said.

The prospect of decertifying new planes even as identical aircraft already in service retain their airworthiness posed another head-scratcher.

“This is really strange, because certification of aircraft is a very, very long process. It takes years,” said Ross Aimer, CEO of California-based Aero Consulting Experts.

Gradek speculated that Trump’s threat to Canadian aircraft could stem from business interests at Virginia-based General Dynamics, which owns Gulfstream.

“Is there a safety concern with these airplanes? Is there a structural problem with these airplanes? No, you’re doing it for commercial reasons.”


In the lofty world of ultra-long-range business jets, Bombardier and Gulfstream are head-to-head rivals, with the Global series battling for market share against Gulfstream’s latest models.

The G700 and G800, which have not been green-lit in Canada, have been flagged because of possible de-icing concerns.

Canadian regulators typically follow their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe, where the planes have been approved.

But the U.S. certificate is conditional. Gulfstream has until the end of this year to prove that the two plane models function “properly under the probable operating conditions where ice may form in the fuel system,” according to a temporary exemption granted by the FAA in January 2024.

Any blow to Bombardier would be a blow to American companies, too.

Bombardier said it employs 3,000 people across nine sites south of the border and has 2,800 U.S. suppliers. The company’s jets typically boast at least 40 per cent U.S. content.

Meanwhile, the U.S. enjoys a large trade surplus with Canada in aerospace, meaning the general trade imbalance Trump has cited to justify other levies does not apply.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers highlighted the tight-woven integration of the sector’s supply chains across the neighbouring countries, and the consequences of a potential tariff.

“It makes you less competitive to the U.S. market. By being less competitive, you sell less aircraft,” said David Chartrand, who heads the union’s Canadian contingent, in a phone interview from Toronto.

“It means job reductions. It means loss of contracts ... There would immediately be casualties on that side of the border also.”

Chartrand, whose union represents some 15,000 aerospace and aviation workers in Canada, stressed that politics should have no influence over safety matters.

“You can’t weaponize the certification process and use it as a threat like that,” he said. “There’s no winner in this.”

Bombardier’s share price dropped about six per cent to close at $232.61 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said in a social media post that departmental officials were in touch with their U.S. counterparts. He also said he spoke with Bombardier CEO Éric Martel on Thursday night as well as executives at General Dynamics.

“We are going to continue to support the aerospace industry and to ensure that we are there for Bombardier,” added Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand in an address at the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations — a speech that Bombardier executives skipped as they went into crisis mode.

A few kilometres north in the Montreal suburb of Laval, Jean-Denis Pelletier called for calm while warning about the economic risks should the groundings and tariff go ahead.

“I don’t think we have to panic,” said the former transportation agency official. “But this would affect very dangerously our economy in Quebec.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 30, 2026.

— With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in Washington, D.C., and Dylan Robertson in Ottawa

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press