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President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 50% tariff on aircraft from Canada sold in the U.S. and decertify all new planes made there, jeopardizing Bombardier Inc.’s access to its biggest market for private jets.

Trump said he would levy the additional duties until Ottawa agreed to approve certain jets made by Gulfstream, a unit of General Dynamics Corp. Canada had “wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly refused to certify the Gulfstream 500, 600, 700, and 800 Jets,” he said in a social media post Thursday.

In response, the U.S. would decertify “Bombardier Global Expresses, and all Aircraft made in Canada, until such time as Gulfstream, a Great American Company, is fully certified,” Trump said.

He claimed that Canada was effectively prohibiting the sale of Gulfstream products through the same certification process.

“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,” he said.

A White House official said Trump’s decertification announcement would only affect new planes — sparing thousands of jets already in operation. Still, it’s unclear how the U.S. would decertify the aircraft since such a measure typically relates to safety issues. Gulfstream didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“I don’t know what this is or where it’s coming from, but it’s beyond a bad idea for the president to get in the way of safety and certification,” said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst and managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory. “And does he have any authority to do this?”

The threats could curb the purchasing appetite of American jet buyers and dent growing sales at Canadian planemakers.

The U.S. is private aviation’s biggest market, with more than half of the world’s business jets currently owned by individuals living there. Demand in Canada only amounts to a few hundred planes.

Trump has taken particular aim at Bombardier’s Global Express, but it’s the CRJ family of regional jets introduced by the manufacturer that’s widely used by U.S. carriers.

American Airlines Group Inc. counts about 200 of the aircraft in its regional fleet last year, and Delta Air Lines Inc.’s regional partners had almost 180 CRJs.

Bombardier said in a statement that it’s taken note of Trump’s post and is in contact with the Canadian government.

“We hope this is quickly resolved to avoid a significant impact to air traffic and the flying public,” it said.

Canadian government officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency responsible for certifying aircraft in the U.S., referred a request for comment to the White House.

A spokesperson for the Regional Airline Association said the group isn’t aware of any of its members’ aircraft having been grounded, and it referred questions to the FAA.

Delta declined to comment. SkyWest Inc., the largest operator of Canadian-made jets in the U.S., said it wasn’t aware of imminent regulatory action.

“I don’t know what decertifying means,” said Brian Foley, an aviation consultant. “Each aircraft is certified by the FAA, Canada, the Europeans. I can’t think of a case in history where that’s happened.”

Trump’s contention that Canada has delayed approving Gulfstream aircraft follows the company’s announcement last April that it received certification from the FAA and the European Union for the G800.

BACKFIRE RISKED

While Trump’s tactics on trade often start with broadsides that are eventually narrowed down at the bargaining table, this threat — if enforced — would be especially painful for U.S. corporate travel departments depending on Bombardier’s jets to ferry executives.

The surprise move is the latest escalation of trade tensions with a major U.S. partner, including a recent threat to hit Canadian goods with a 100% tariff if the country made a trade deal with China.

Trump has bristled at comments from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos that offered an implicit denunciation of Trump’s approach to economic and foreign policy.

The White House has also expressed annoyance at a recent agreement between Ottawa and Beijing that essentially swapped canola sales to China for a quota of electric vehicle sales to Canada.

The two leaders spoke earlier this week, with Carney standing by his comments in Davos and seeking to explain Canada’s push to diversify its trade with other nations.

The back-and-forth comes as the countries prepare to renegotiate their continental trade pact, known as USMCA, which Trump agreed to in his first term.

The U.S. and Canada are not applying tariffs to most goods traded under that agreement, with some exceptions, including the auto sector.

That means a large proportion of Canadian exports are entering the U.S. duty-free, though significant tariffs remain on key sectors such as steel and aluminum.

Earlier Thursday, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on countries that provided or sold oil to Cuba, in a move that could subject Mexico to higher levies.

SUPPLY CHAIN TIES

Bombardier competes with Gulfstream and is particularly exposed to the decertification threat. More than half of its global fleet of about 5,200 aircraft operate in the U.S., while 64% of sales in 2024 came from there.

Bombardier’s Global 800, which rivals Gulfstream’s G800 and G700, received FAA certification in December.

It’s the fastest civilian aircraft since the Concorde.

The planemaker, headquartered near Montreal, has a complicated supply chain that includes manufacturing across North America.

“We have more than 2,800 U.S.-based suppliers across 47 states and are creating tens of thousands of jobs in the U.S.,” Bombardier Chief Executive Officer Eric Martel said last year. “The vast majority of our platforms are made up of more U.S. parts and systems than any other country.”

More than half of the costs for the Bombardier’s Global 7500 jet are tied to U.S. manufacturing, for example.

The wings are made in Texas, avionics in Iowa and motors in Indiana, but the assembly and finishing are done in Canada.

“A sustained threat to decertify Canadian aircraft could create near-term uncertainty around U.S. customer commitments for Bombardier,” RBC analysts including James McGarragle wrote in a note.

Canada has already validated the Gulfstream G500 and G600, signaling the certification spat may be more nuanced, they wrote.

Information for this article was contributed by Mathieu Dion, Derek Decloet, Melissa Shin, Phoebe Sedgman, Laura Dhillon Kane, Leen Al-Rashdan and Michael Tighe of Bloomberg (WPNS).