Trump threatens to ban Bombardier jet sales as Canada’s tariffs take effect
Just after midnight on Tuesday, Canada’s countertariffs of up to 50 percent on $20 billion worth of U.S. imports came into effect.
President Donald Trump threatened to ban the sale of Canadian Bombardier jets unless they are built in the United States, as Canadian retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods came into effect amid an escalating trade war between the countries.
“NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES!” Trump said in a Truth Social post Monday that also urged people to “BUY AMERICAN.”
It was not immediately clear how Trump would restrict the sale of the jets. The White House did not immediately respond to an overnight request for comment.
The president’s comments mark the latest escalation in the ongoing tit-for-tat trade feud between the U.S. and Canada. Just after midnight on Tuesday, Canada’s countertariffs of up to 50 percent on $20 billion worth of U.S. imports came into effect. The levies apply to a vast range of products, including steel and aluminum, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, plastics and electronics.
The move came in response to the U.S. imposing 50 percent tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian goods last month. After trade talks between the two sides faltered, Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed that Canada would retaliate “dollar for dollar.”
In his Monday post, Trump said that if Bombardier wanted access to the U.S. market, “they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank.’”
In a statement that did not directly address Trump’s comments, Bombardier said it had sites in nine U.S. states and Washington D.C., and noted that it manufactured its wings in its Texas facility, and flight-control components in California.
It added it worked with about 2,800 American companies across 47 states and that it “values its great partnership with American companies and its U.S. employees.”
The Quebec-based firm has previously said it employs more than 3,000 people in the U.S.
Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette said she had contacted Bombardier’s chief executive to offer “our full support.”
“Quebec will not allow anyone to dictate where our companies must produce in order to access a market. We will defend our companies, our workers, and our expertise with resolve,” she said in a post on X.
U.S.-Canada relations have deteriorated drastically during Trump’s second term. In addition to the trade war, Trump has threatened to make Canada the 51st state and signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America.
