Trump threatens 50% tariff on Canadian aircraft sold in US, escalating trade war | World News

US President Donald Trump threatened Canada on Thursday with a 50% tariff on all aircraft sold in the US, adding to the latest escalation in his trade war with the country as tensions with Prime Minister Mark Carney continue to escalate.

Trump made the warning in a social media post on Truth Social, just days after threatening to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian imports if Ottawa goes ahead with its planned trade deal with China. But it did not specify when the new taxes would come into effect, and Canada had already finalized the agreement.

In his latest threat, Donald Trump said the move was in response to Canada’s refusal to certify planes produced by Gulfstream Aerospace, based in Savannah, Georgia.

In retaliation, Trump said the United States would decertify all Canadian planes, including those produced by Bombardier, the country’s largest aircraft manufacturer.

“If for some reason this situation is not corrected immediately, I will impose a 50% tariff on Canada on all Airplanes sold to the United States,” Trump said in his social media post.

Trump announced he was “decertifying” Bombardier Global Express business jets. There are currently 150 Global Express aircraft registered in the United States and operated by 115 operators, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

There was no immediate response from Canada’s transportation minister and a Bombardier spokesman.

The US Department of Commerce imposed tariffs on Bombardier commercial passenger aircraft during President Trump’s first term in 2017, accusing the Canadian company of selling the aircraft below cost in the US. The United States also alleged that Montreal-based Bombardier used unfair government subsidies to sell its planes at artificially low prices, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington later determined that Bombardier had not harmed U.S. businesses.