'That era is over': Trump targets Canada's Bombardier after Gulfstream tariff threat

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump escalated his dispute with Canadian aircraft maker Bombardier on Monday, September 7, declaring “That Era is OVER” and demanding it build in the United States.

Trump said Bombardier products were not good enough and argued that the company relies heavily on American buyers, companies, airports, and services.

The post followed Trump’s claim a week ago when he said that a tariff threat helped resolve a nine-year Gulfstream certification dispute in Canada.

Trump demands Bombardier build in US

Trump said that Bombardier would no longer be allowed to sell its products in the United States unless it moved production into the country.

“If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He then added: "That Era is OVER!"

Trump also accused Canada of blocking US banks and companies while benefiting from access to the American market. 

He specifically said Canada had blocked Gulfstream Aerospace from doing business there.

The president framed the Bombardier dispute as part of a broader complaint about how Canada treats US businesses. 

“All while Canada blocks our GREAT American Banks, and Companies, throughout the USA,” he wrote.

Trump also urged Americans to “BUY AMERICAN. FLY ON AMERICAN AIRLINERS,” ending the post with “AMERICA FIRST!”

President ties tariff threat to Gulfstream dispute

Trump’s latest warning came after he said on Wednesday that he threatened tariffs on Bombardier until Canada certified Gulfstream aircraft.

Trump said Gulfstream had spent $60 million seeking certification over roughly nine years, while Bombardier faced no comparable obstacle selling planes in the United States.

“Gulfstream is the best private jet, considered the best of the best, and they won't certify it in Canada because they make a competitor, Bombardier Global Express,” Trump said.

He said he learned about the dispute from a friend who was trying to buy a Gulfstream jet. Trump said Gulfstream’s chief executive told him the company had spent millions of dollars on legal fees during the certification effort.

“So I immediately said, ‘I'm putting a major tariff on Bombardier and other things until they're certified,’” Trump said.

Trump said Canada’s prime minister then called him, and the dispute was resolved within two hours of his tariff threat. “Everything got certified,” he said.

Trump calls relationship with Canada a very unfair deal

Trump presented the Gulfstream episode as evidence of what he described as a wider imbalance in US-Canada trade.

“That’s the way they treat us,” Trump said after describing the certification dispute and his response.

He separately claimed the United States had lost between $60 billion and $100 billion annually to Canada for the past 15 years. He called the relationship “a very unfair deal.”

Trump also said Canada had major banks operating in the United States while not allowing US banks to operate in Canada, calling the arrangement “sort of emblematic of the way they treat us.”

He said Canada had charged tariffs affecting US farmers and taken advantage of US farmers, tourists and airlines. 

Trump described Canada as harder to negotiate with than China or Vietnam.

“I said, ‘No, actually, it's Canada,’” Trump said when explaining which country he considered toughest to negotiate with.

He also claimed Canada had taken 20% of the US car industry, while saying he did not blame Canada for doing so. 

“We want the cars to be made in Detroit and in South Carolina and in Tennessee and in all of our places where we make cars,” Trump said.