Trump Threatens Canada With More Tariffs Over Jet Snag

Bloomberg News

January 31, 2026 6 min read

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(Bloomberg) – President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 50% tariff on aircraft from Canada sold in the US and decertify all new planes made there, jeopardizing Bombardier Inc.’s access to its biggest market for private jets.

Trump said he would levy the additional duties until Ottawa agreed to approve certain jets made by Gulfstream, a unit of General Dynamics Corp. Canada had “wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly refused to certify the Gulfstream 500, 600, 700, and 800 Jets,” he said in a social media post Thursday.

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In response, the US would decertify “Bombardier Global Expresses, and all Aircraft made in Canada, until such time as Gulfstream, a Great American Company, is fully certified,” Trump said. Bombardier shares were down about 8% in late morning trading on Friday in Toronto.

He claimed that Canada was effectively prohibiting the sale of Gulfstream products through the same certification process.

“If, for any reason, this situation is not immediately corrected, I am going to charge Canada a 50% Tariff on any and all Aircraft sold into the United States of America,” he said.

A White House official said Trump’s decertification announcement would only affect new planes — sparing thousands of jets already in operation.

Still, it’s unclear how the US would decertify the aircraft since such a measure typically relates to safety issues. Gulfstream didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“I don’t know what this is or where it’s coming from, but it’s beyond a bad idea for the president to get in the way of safety and certification,” said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst and managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory. “And does he have any authority to do this?”

Photographer: Laura Proctor/Bloomberg

The threats could curb the purchasing appetite of American jet buyers and dent growing sales at Canadian planemakers.

The US is private aviation’s biggest market, with more than half of the world’s business jets currently owned by individuals living there. Demand in Canada only amounts to a few hundred planes.

Gulfstream’s newest models have yet to be certified in Canada due to tests still pending on a crucial fuel icing system. In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration gave Gulfstream a time-limited exemption on the G700 and G800 models until the end of 2026, allowing the planemaker to deliver the model to customers even as tests are done to ensure the fuel system is safe from tiny droplets of water freezing and blocking flow of fuel to the engines.

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The planemaker had previously sought to use the certification of its older models as the basis for the analysis that was safe. But it was later determined that because of changes in the routing of the system, fresh testing was required. Canada hasn’t granted a similar exemption, delaying certification of those models.

Bombardier said in a statement that it’s taken note of Trump’s post and is in contact with the Canadian government. “We hope this is quickly resolved to avoid a significant impact to air traffic and the flying public,” it said.

Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly said the certification process for Gulfstream’s jets “is well underway” and that “the certification demands were absolutely recent.” The approval process for aircraft “is something we don’t politicize,” Joly said.

A spokesperson for the FAA referred a request for comment to the White House.

“I don’t know what decertifying means,” said Brian Foley, an aviation consultant. “Each aircraft is certified by the FAA, Canada, the Europeans. I can’t think of a case in history where that’s happened.”

Trump’s complaint that Canada has delayed approving Gulfstream aircraft follows the company’s announcement last April that it received certification from the FAA and the European Union for the G800.

Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

While Trump’s tactics on trade often start with broadsides that are eventually narrowed down at the bargaining table, this threat — if enforced — would be especially painful for Bombardier, which exited the commercial aircraft business years ago to focus on making private jets.

The surprise move is the latest escalation of trade tensions with a major US partner, including a recent threat to hit Canadian goods with a 100% tariff if the country made a trade deal with China.

Trump has bristled at comments from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos that offered an implicit denunciation of Trump’s approach to economic and foreign policy. The White House has also expressed annoyance at a recent agreement between Ottawa and Beijing that essentially swapped canola sales to China for a quota of electric vehicle sales to Canada.

The two leaders spoke earlier this week, with Carney standing by his comments at Davos and seeking to explain Canada’s push to diversify its trade with other nations.

The back-and-forth comes as the countries prepare to renegotiate their continental trade pact, known as USMCA, which Trump agreed to in his first term. The US and Canada are not applying tariffs to most goods traded under that agreement, with some exceptions, including the auto sector.

US Supply Chain

For Bombardier, decertification or tariffs would hinder its ability to compete with Gulfstream for sales. More than half of the Canadian company’s global fleet of about 5,200 aircraft operate in the US, while 64% of sales in 2024 came from there.

Bombardier’s Global 8000, which rivals Gulfstream’s G800 and G700, received FAA certification in December. It’s the fastest civilian aircraft since the Concorde.

The planemaker, headquartered near Montreal, has a complicated supply chain that includes manufacturing across North America.

“We have more than 2,800 US-based suppliers across 47 states and are creating tens of thousands of jobs in the US,” Bombardier Chief Executive Officer Eric Martel said last year. “The vast majority of our platforms are made up of more US parts and systems than any other country.”

More than half of the costs for the Bombardier’s Global 7500 jet are tied to US manufacturing, for example. The wings are made in Texas, avionics in Iowa and motors in Indiana, but the assembly and finishing are done in Canada.

“A sustained threat to decertify Canadian aircraft could create near-term uncertainty around US customer commitments for Bombardier,” RBC analysts including James McGarragle wrote in a note.

–With assistance from Melissa Shin, Phoebe Sedgman, Laura Dhillon Kane, Leen Al-Rashdan, Siddharth Philip, Michael Tighe, Mathieu Dion and Derek Decloet.

(Updates with Canadian industry minister’s comment, Bombardier share move, beginning in the third paragraph.)

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