Bombardier has pushed back against United States President Donald Trump’s threat to block sales of its aircraft if it doesn’t start building planes in the US, saying it already does. In a statement provided to Al Jazeera on Tuesday, the Quebec-based aircraft manufacturer said it employs thousands of workers throughout the US. Trump took to Truth Social on Monday, criticising the Canadian company for making 50 percent of its revenue in the US and living off “American Buyers, American Companies, American Airports, and American Service”.
Their products aren’t good enough!” Trump wrote. The company also highlighted that it works with suppliers in 47 states, plans to open a new service centre in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and has existing service centres in Arizona, Texas, Kansas, Florida and Connecticut, noting that it spends $2.5bn on 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.
Senator Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas, where Bombardier has its US headquarters, pushed back on the president’s comments on Monday. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) also pushed back on the comments, saying the organisation opposes any attempt to block sales in the US. The remarks come amid escalating trade tensions between the US and Canada.
Early Tuesday, Canada’s retaliatory tariffs took effect, impacting hundreds of US-made products worth $20bn after the White House introduced 50 percent tariffs on Canadian goods. On Wall Street, Bombardier stock tumbled more than 6.5 percent in midday trading. Meanwhile, its competitors’ stock rose, with Boeing up 0.3 percent and Airbus up 1 percent.
This is not the first spat that Trump has had with the Montreal-area-based airplane maker. In January, Trump accused the company of keeping Gulfstream business jets out of Canadian markets by delaying certification of aircraft. During Trump’s first term as US president, Boeing accused Bombardier of using government subsidies to sell its passenger jets in the US at artificially low prices.
The Commerce Department responded by calculating tariffs of nearly 300 percent on the aircraft. The tariffs, however, never took effect after the US International Trade Commission ruled that Bombardier’s planes had not harmed the American aircraft sector. Several US airlines also operate Bombardier jets through regional airline partners, including Delta, United, American and Alaska, whose fleets include aircraft operated by carriers such as Endeavor Air and SkyWest.
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