President Donald Trump escalated his trade offensive against Canada on Monday, declaring that Montreal-based aircraft manufacturer Bombardier would be shut out of the American market unless it shifts production to U.S. soil.
“NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their products aren’t good enough!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank.'”
The threat lands just hours before Ottawa’s latest countermeasures take effect at midnight on Sept. 8, when roughly $20 billion of retaliatory tariffs on American goods go into force. Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has outlined a sliding scale of duties ranging from 15% to 50% across steel, aluminum, dairy, agricultural products, pulp and paper, furniture, clothing, appliances, and electronics.
Bombardier did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s ultimatum marks the second time this year he has targeted the Canadian jet maker. In January, the administration said it was decertifying Bombardier Global Express business jets and threatened 50% import tariffs on all Canadian-built aircraft until Ottawa certified several planes produced by Savannah, Georgia-based Gulfstream. The decertification never materialized, and Canada certified the Gulfstream aircraft the following month.
The broader trade confrontation has intensified since August, when Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Canadian products. Canada’s response, timed to begin right after Labor Day, deliberately targets industries concentrated in U.S. border states and districts that could swing toward Democrats in November’s midterm elections, including Maine and Michigan.
Trump has also trained his fire on the currency market. On Sunday, he called the exchange rate between the two currencies “unacceptable,” noting that one Canadian dollar buys roughly 72 U.S. cents. “It has been that way for years, but no longer!” he posted.
The economic strain is already visible in Canadian data. The country shed a surprising 42,000 jobs in August, according to newly released labor figures, suggesting the tariff fight is cutting into a recovery that had been taking hold over the summer following a brief recession earlier in the year.
Trade talks between Washington and Ottawa collapsed last month after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick rejected a proposed reduction in auto tariffs from 25% to 15%. Trump has separately threatened to raise duties on Canadian vehicles, auto parts, and steel to 50% starting January 2027.
The president has repeatedly attacked Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney throughout the dispute, accusing Canada of wanting “the benefits of being a state, without being one.” On Thursday, he warned that Canadian politicians casting him as “the enemy” could trigger a collapse of Canada’s economy, describing the potential fallout as “worse than anything that has ever happened to a Canadian Politician.”
Carney, for his part, has maintained that a mutually beneficial agreement remains achievable and that Ottawa is prepared to negotiate whenever Washington signals readiness.
Canada ranked as either the largest or second-largest destination for American exports across most of the sectors now facing retaliatory duties, according to U.S. trade data. The targeted goods represent about 6% of the $333.6 billion in U.S. merchandise exported to Canada last year. In July, Canada posted a trade surplus of $769 million, while the United States ran a goods trade deficit with its northern neighbor exceeding $48 billion in the prior year, according to Statistics Canada and the U.S. Census Bureau, respectively.