US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened Canada with a 50% tariff on all the aircraft sold in the US, adding the latest escalation in his trade war with country as tensions with Prime Minister Mark Carney continue to intensify.
Trump issued the warning in a social media post on Truth Social few days after he threatened that he would slap a 100% tariff on Canadian imports if Ottawa proceeded with a planned trade agreement with China. However, he did not specify when the new duties would take effect, and Canada had already finalised the deal.
Add Zee News as a Preferred Source
In his latest threat, Donald Trump said the move was in response to Canada’s refusal to certify aircraft produced by Savannah, Georgia–based Gulfstream Aerospace.
Trump said that, in retaliation, the US would revoke certification for all Canadian aircraft, including those manufactured by the country’s largest airplane producer, Bombardier.
In his social media post, Trump asserted, “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.”
Trump announced that he is “hereby decertifying” the Bombardier Global Express business jets. According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, 150 Global Express aircraft are currently registered in the United States and operated by 115 operators.
Response from the Canada’s transport minister and spokesperson for Bombardier is yet to come.
The US Department of Commerce earlier imposed duties on a Bombardier commercial passenger jet in 2017 during the first term of the President Trump, accusing Canadian company of selling the plane in US below cost. The US also alleged that the Montreal-based Bombardier used unfair government subsidies to sell aircrafts artificially low prices, news agency Associated Press reported.
The US International Trade Commission in Washington later determined that Bombardier did not harm US businesses.