The Canadian Aviation Authority has issued certificates for several Gulfstream jet models in the country, Bloomberg reported. This comes after US President Donald Trump threatened 50% tariffs and said he would decertify all aircraft made by the northern neighbour.
Gulfstream did not immediately respond to a request for comment, he added.
The jets are manufactured by Gulfstream Aerospace, a subsidiary of the American company General Dynamics Corporation.
What has changed for Gulfstream jets in Canada?
The Canadian Aviation Authority issued ‘Type Certificates’ for the Gulfstream GVII-G500 and GVII-G600 jets on February 15, Bloomberg reported, citing documents released by Transport Canada.
The official Transport Canada website has not yet listed anything on the certificates for the G700 and G800.
Canada’s transport minister’s office confirmed the G500 and G600 have been certified and said Canada is still in discussions with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the G700 and G800, the report said.
US-Canada Trade Tensions: What Happened?
On January 1, Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that Canada had “wrongfully, illegally and persistently refused” to certify the Gulfstream G500, G600, G700 and G800 models, and threatened to decertify all aircraft from the country and impose a 50% tariff on all Canadian-made aircraft if they did not come back soon.
Among the Canadian-made planes included in Trump’s threats were those of Bombardier Inc. based in Montreal, for which the US is the largest market.
- The company’s CRJ range of regional jets is widely used by US carriers, including American Airlines (200 CRJs in fleet by 2025) and Delta Air Lines (over 150 CRJs by the end of 2024), according to a previous Bloomberg report.
- More than half of Bombardier’s global fleet of more than 5,200 aircraft is operated in the US.
- In 2024, 64% of Bombardier’s sales came from the US, compared to 3% domestically.
- Additionally, more than half of the cost of the Bombardier Global 7500 jet is associated with manufacturing in the US – the wings are made in Texas, the avionics in Iowa and the engines in Indiana, but assembly and finishing is done in Canada.
A day after Trump’s post, Canada’s Industry Minister Melanie Joly said the certification process for the Gulfstream jets was “going well” and that the approval process for the planes “is something we don’t politicize.”
Points of contention: China, “Governor” Carney’s remark, Greenland
On January 24, Trump also threatened to impose 100% additional tariffs in response to Canada’s potential trade deals with China, calling Prime Minister Mark Carney a “governor.” Notably, Trump has repeatedly (jokingly and otherwise) referred to Canadian prime ministers — both Carney and his predecessor Justin Trudeau — as “governors,” implying that Canada could become the 51st US state. The Canadian government rejected the story.
In response, Carney called on citizens to “Buy Canada” in a video post on X the following day, adding that Canada would “focus on what we can control”. He stated: “With our economy under threat from abroad, Canadians have decided to ‘Focus on what we can control’. You have decided to put your hard-earned dollars behind Canadian businesses and Canadian workers. The new Canadian government is doing the same – with our new ‘Buy Canadian’ policy.”
Also last December, Trump criticized Canada for opposing his so-called “Golden Dome” missile defense system over Greenland.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)