Trump Pressures Bombardier to Localize Aircraft Production in the U.S
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Canadian private jet maker Bombardier (BBDb.TO) 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 esclates, part of the near-global tariff wall in his second term that has drawn complaints from many U.S. trading partners.
Canada is set to introduce a wave of counter-tariffs against the U.S. on Tuesday.
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 U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
The planemaker’s jets also comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada trade deal that Trump helped implement.
U.S. aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia said he did not believe any business jet customers would cancel Bombardier orders and he 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 U.S. engines, which are produced by both Honeywell Aerospace (HONA.O) and GE Aerospace (GE.N),.
Aerospace has largely emerged unscathed from Trump’s tariff war, with the flow of parts and planes not currently affected by duties. According to U.S. trade group Aerospace Industries Association, the country’s aerospace and defense sector has a $109.2 billion trade surplus, with exports up 25% on an annual basis in 2025.
Like the U.S. auto sector, which depends on parts production by its northern neighbor, aerospace is highly integrated.
Bombardier, the Montreal-based rival of U.S. business jet manufacturer Gulfstream Aerospace (GD.N), opens new tab, has an American workforce of 3,500, and a U.S. footprint of 2,800 suppliers, along with factories and service centers in the country. The company is now adding its sixth U.S. service center and produces wings for its flagship
Global 8000 jet in Texas.
Bombardier said in a statement late on Monday that it spends more than $2.5 billion with U.S. 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 defense division with a U.S.-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 is located in the U.S.
In January, Trump said the U.S. was decertifying Bombardier Global Express business jets and threatened 50% import tariffs on all aircraft made in Canada until the country’s regulator certified a number of planes produced by Gulfstream. Neither occurred, but the next month, Canada certified several Gulfstream planes.
In July, Bombardier reported that its quarterly revenue grew 6% compared with the same three months a year ago to $2.15 billion, helped by strong demand for aftermarket services.
Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Nick Zieminski and Jamie Freed
This article was first reported by Reuters
