U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Quebec-based Bombardier should no longer be allowed to sell aircraft in the United States, targeting one of the province’s most prominent manufacturers.
“NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Their products aren’t good enough!”
Bombardier, headquartered in Dorval, is a major Quebec employer and one of the province’s best-known aerospace companies. It now specializes in business jets, including its Challenger and Global aircraft families.
Premier Christine Fréchette reacted through a post on social media Monday by saying she would not “respond to provocation with provocation,” calling Bombardier a source of Quebec pride and a major player in the province’s aerospace industry.
Fréchette said she had contacted Bombardier CEO Éric Martel to offer the company the Quebec government’s support.
“Quebec will not let anyone dictate where our companies must produce in order to have access to a market,” she wrote. “We will defend our companies, our workers and our expertise, with firmness.”
Bernard Drainville, the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s outgoing minister of economy, innovation and energy, struck a sharper tone.
“Attacking Bombardier is attacking Quebec,” he wrote on X.
“It’s attacking a flagship of our aerospace industry. … Donald Trump’s remarks are unacceptable. We will not stand for this.”
Quebec will be present “to protect our industries and our jobs,” Drainville said, adding he would be at the cabinet meeting later Monday to “defend” the province’s economy, businesses, workers and regions.
Last week, Drainville made headlines for comments he made during a radio interview in which he told the U.S. president “f— you, esti.” He was promptly called back to order by Fréchette, who said his remark had “no place.”
Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said “we will have contact with Bombardier.”
“But we need to be careful before we get into an analysis of a tweet that was already made in the past … so we need to take that for what it is,” he said Monday afternoon in response to Trump’s social media post, referencing a similar post from the president in January.
St-Pierre Plamondon reiterated his calls to Fréchette for more details about the counter-tariffs in the ongoing U.S.-Canada trade dispute.
“And I think the starting point to a good game plan would be to have information on what we actually control — that is, our counter-tariffs — that so far has not been disclosed,” he said. “It’s very difficult to prepare a plan if there is no transparency.”
Trump claimed more than half of Bombardier’s revenue comes from the U.S. and accused Canada of blocking American companies, singling out Bombardier rival Gulfstream Aerospace.
“If they want our market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank,’” Trump wrote.
In response to questions from The Gazette about Trump’s comments, Bombardier did not mention the president by name, instead emphasizing the scale of its U.S. operations.
The company said it has 3,500 direct employees in the U.S. and works with approximately 2,800 American suppliers across 47 states, spending more than US$2.5 billion with suppliers each year.
“Bombardier is a strong contributor to the sector, creating tens of thousands of jobs across the United States,” the company said.
Bombardier said wings for its fastest business jet are manufactured at its facility in Red Oak, Texas, while flight-control components are made at a facility in the Los Angeles area. Its U.S. headquarters and Bombardier Defense operations are based in Wichita, Kan.
Bombardier has also sold aircraft to the U.S. military. Its fast-flying business jets have been adapted for military surveillance and intelligence missions, with aircraft sold to both the U.S. and Australian forces.
Trump’s latest attack comes just five days after he raised the same Bombardier/Gulfstream dispute during an Oval Office meeting. On Sept. 2, Trump complained that Gulfstream had struggled to obtain Canadian certification while Bombardier had “free rein” in the United States.
At the time, however, Trump described Bombardier and Gulfstream as “very good planes.” On Monday, he said Bombardier’s products “aren’t good enough.”
Trump did not say how such a restriction would be imposed or when it would take effect.
This is not the first time Bombardier has been targeted during a Trump presidency. In 2017, Boeing filed a trade complaint over Bombardier’s C Series passenger jet, leading the U.S. Department of Commerce to propose duties totalling more than 290 per cent. The duties were ultimately blocked after the U.S. International Trade Commission rejected Boeing’s case.
Read More: 'No more’ Bombardier sales in U.S., Trump declares in social media post