President Trump deepened his rift with Canada on Thursday, threatening to restrict the use of Canadian-built aircraft in the United States because of a dispute related to American-made business jets.
The president said on social media that he would decertify “all aircraft made in Canada,” a move that would ground thousands of planes and upend air travel in the United States. But industry officials said federal regulators clarified that his statement was meant to apply only to new aircraft certifications.
Mr. Trump claimed that Canadian authorities had “steadfastly refused to certify” some jets built by Gulfstream, which is based in Georgia. He also threatened to impose a 50 percent tariff on Canadian aircraft until the issue was resolved.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which issues aircraft certifications in the United States, referred questions about the statement to the White House, which did not respond to a request for clarification. While Mr. Trump said the United States was “decertifying” the aircraft, two industry officials said that federal regulators had advised that the statement was intended only to refer to new certifications. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the government’s guidance.
The F.A.A. also has legal agreements with manufacturers and international bilateral agreements with foreign civil aviation regulators that would complicate the process of revoking certifications, which are often awarded reciprocally.
Transport Canada, the Canadian regulator, generally accepts F.A.A. certifications as its own, though it varied somewhat from that practice after questions were raised about U.S. oversight of Boeing following two fatal crashes of the company’s 737 Max planes in 2018 and 2019.
The aircraft dispute comes as relations between the United States and Canada have turned increasingly tense. Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada described a “rupture” of the era underpinned by American hegemony in a speech last week. Mr. Trump then disinvited him to his “Board of Peace,” a group supposed to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza that he has tried to position as a rival to the United Nations.
In his post on Thursday, Mr. Trump said Canada had refused to certify the Gulfstream 500, 600, 700 and 800 jets. According to Transport Canada’s website, Gulfstream 500 and 600 series models are certified in Canada. The 700 was intended to go on sale in 2022, but its F.A.A. certification was delayed until 2024 because of new standards that followed the 737 Max crashes. The 800 model only recently received its F.A.A. certification. Transport Canada, Gulfstream and Gulfstream’s parent company, General Dynamics, all did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
If the United States were to decertify all Canadian-made aircraft, it could hamstring commercial air travel and medical transportation. There are about 5,400 Canadian-made aircraft in regular use in the United States, with another 600 in storage, according to Cirium, an aviation data firm. Hundreds were in the air when Mr. Trump made the post, according to Flightradar24, an aviation tracking service. Hundreds more were scheduled to fly on Friday.
About half of those active Canadian-built aircraft are Bombardier planes, including about 600 planes in the Global Express family, which Mr. Trump mentioned by name in his post. The Canada-made aircraft also include about 1,900 helicopters made by Bell Helicopters, hundreds of jets used by airlines, including dozens made near Montreal by Airbus, which also makes planes in Alabama.
The operator with the most Canadian-built aircraft is SkyWest Airlines, which operates shorter-distance flights for Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. SkyWest has about 240 Bombardier regional jets in active service, according to Cirium.
NetJets, a private jet company, is next with about 200 Canadian aircraft, including dozens from the Global Express family. Endeavor Air, a Delta subsidiary, and PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American, also each operate about 140 Canadian aircraft. Air Evac Lifeteam, a provider of medical transportation, operates dozens of Bell helicopters. None of the companies immediately responded to requests for comment.
Niraj Chokshi is a Times reporter who writes about aviation, rail and other transportation industries.
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