President Donald Trump has opened a new front in his fight with Canada by announcing that he is “decertifying” Canadian-made business jets and threatening steep tariffs on aircraft that cross the border. The move targets Bombardier’s Global Express line and is explicitly tied to a dispute over how quickly Canada will sign off on new Gulfstream models. The result is a high-stakes clash that pulls aviation safety regulators into the middle of a trade fight and leaves airlines, manufacturers and travelers asking what, if anything, will actually change on the ground.
Trump’s threat, delivered on Truth Social, has already rattled the aerospace industry and prompted urgent talks between regulators on both sides of the border. For now, the technical certifications that keep existing Canadian aircraft flying in the United States remain intact, but the political pressure is intense and the economic consequences could be severe if the rhetoric hardens into binding rules or tariffs.
What Trump said he would do to Canadian aircraft
Trump has framed his move as a direct response to Canada’s handling of Gulfstream approvals, telling supporters that the United States is “decertifying” Canadian aircraft until Ottawa signs off on those jets. In his post, he singled out Bombardier’s Global Express business jets and tied their status in the U.S. market to the fate of the Gulfstream models Canada has yet to clear. Reporting on the announcement describes Trump saying the United States is decertifying Bombardier Global Express aircraft until Canada certifies Gulfstream, a linkage that effectively turns safety paperwork into a bargaining chip.
He has also raised the stakes by threatening tariffs on cross-border aircraft sales if Canada does not move quickly. In a post amplified by coverage of his comments, he warned of a potential tariff of 50% on any aircraft produced in Canada and sold in the United States. Another account of his remarks explains that Trump specifically said he was decertifying Canadian-manufactured aircraft and threatening a 50% tariff unless Canada approves Gulfstream jets, which he portrays as a matter of fairness rather than regulatory process.
How much power Trump really has over aircraft certification
The language of “decertification” suggests an immediate grounding of Canadian-built planes, but the legal reality is more constrained. Aviation safety approvals sit with the Federal Aviation Administration, which works through detailed technical reviews and long-standing agreements with Transport Canada. A White House official, speaking to one account of the dispute, stressed that Trump was not proposing to strip approvals from Canadian-built aircraft that are already in operation, indicating that the threat is focused on new or future certifications rather than planes that are currently flying. That clarification came as the official said Trump was not suggesting decertifying Canadian-built planes currently, which sharply narrows the scope of any immediate disruption.
Even within that narrower frame, the president’s words still matter because they can shape how agencies interpret their mandates and how foreign regulators respond. Trade-focused analysis of the spat describes the United States threatening to DECERTIFY CDN planes in a tit-for-tat response to Canada’s treatment of Gulfstream, casting the move as part of a broader Canada-US trade war that has taken to the skies. That framing helps explain why industry leaders, lawmakers and unions are treating the rhetoric seriously even if the underlying certification machinery has not yet changed.
The Gulfstream trigger and Canada’s response
At the heart of the dispute is Canada’s timeline for approving new Gulfstream business jets that the United States has already cleared. Trump has portrayed Ottawa’s caution as a form of protectionism that hurts American manufacturers, and he has tied the fate of Bombardier’s Global Express certificates directly to those Gulfstream sign-offs. In his Truth Social post, as recounted in coverage of the clash, Trump said the United States is decertifying all Canadian aircraft until Canada certifies Gulfstream jets, an ultimatum that effectively conditions one company’s regulatory outcome on another’s.
Canadian regulators have not engaged publicly with the political theater, but officials on both sides of the border are working to defuse the situation. The head of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has said that Canadian and U.S. officials are close to agreement and that he expects Canada to certify the relevant Gulfstream models soon. A separate account from Canada’s perspective reports that the FAA administrator expects Canada will certify Gulfstream jets in the near term, suggesting that technical teams are close to closing the gap regardless of the political pressure.
Bombardier, Gulfstream and the industrial fallout
Bombardier Inc sits directly in the crosshairs of Trump’s threat, yet its leadership has struck a notably calm tone. The company’s chief executive, Éric Martel, has said he expects Canada’s aviation regulator to approve the Gulfstream jets soon, which in his view would resolve the dispute and remove the risk to Bombardier’s own certificates. Reporting on his comments explains that the head of Bombardier Inc believes Canada will approve Gulfstream models soon after Trump’s threat, in part because thousands of U.S.-based suppliers depend on Bombardier’s production and the broader cross-border aerospace ecosystem.
Martel has also acknowledged that Bombardier did not ask to be part of a political standoff over a rival’s products. In a separate interview, he said Trump had threatened to pull Bombardier certificates unless Gulfstream planes are certified in Canada, and he stressed that Bombardier is not involved in the Gulfstream certification work at all. That separation underscores how unusual it is to see one manufacturer’s regulatory status explicitly tied to another’s, and it highlights the collateral risk to supply chains that stretch from Montreal to Wichita and beyond.
Tariffs, Congress and the political pushback
Beyond certification, the threat of tariffs has quickly become a political flashpoint in Washington. Trump has said he is prepared to impose a 50% tariff on aircraft sold into the U.S. from Canada if the situation is not resolved “immediately,” a figure repeated in multiple accounts of his remarks. One summary of the social media post notes that he threatened 50% tariffs on any aircraft produced in Canada and sold in the United States, and another recounts Trump warning of 50% tariffs and referencing the number 202 in the context of his message. Those figures are designed to grab attention, and they have.
Lawmakers have already started to push back, arguing that such tariffs would raise prices and threaten jobs on both sides of the border. One account of congressional reaction describes Trump Rebuked Over Canada Tariffs as Midterm Anxieties Grow, with members of the House warning that higher duties on Canadian goods would raise the cost of living for their voters and deepen worries about midterm anxieties. Organized labor has joined that chorus: the IAM has issued a Union Statement on a House Vote to Reject Tariffs on Canada, arguing that such measures would hurt working families and threaten jobs in aerospace and related industries.
