OTTAWA – U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be backing away from his threat to shut Canadian aerospace giant Bombardier out of the U.S. market, after learning about the company’s significant operations in Kansas.
In September, Trump threatened to block sales of Bombardier jets in the United States amid a growing trade dispute with Canada.
“NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their products aren’t good enough!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sept. 7. “If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank.’”
But while visiting Kansas on Monday, Trump struck a dramatically different tone after learning about Bombardier’s operations in Wichita, where the company employs about 1,500 people.
“We’re going to take care of Bombardier,” Trump told 12 News in Kansas. He repeated the sentiment on stage at a rally later in the day.
“I’m going to be helping a certain air company get themselves straightened away … I’ll be helping them because I always viewed them as a Canadian company,” Trump said. “But now I find out they have a presence here, and we’re not hurting them if they’re in Kansas. So, we’ll take care of those people and the jobs.”
Dominic LeBlanc, the federal minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, has argued for months that Bombardier is deeply embedded in the American economy.
“Bombardier has many hundreds and thousands of employees in the United States and has had for a long time. I had seen a number of legislators in the United States, including Republicans, express concerns this summer when President Trump had made those comments about Bombardier,” said Leblanc.
Trump was in Kansas to campaign for Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who is locked in an unusually competitive re-election fight against Democrat Adam Hamilton. Kansas has not elected a Democratic U.S. senator since 1932, but polls have shown a close race this year.
Trump’s September threat against Bombardier had become a political issue in Kansas because of the company’s 1,500 jobs in Wichita. Marshall was among the Kansas lawmakers who contacted the White House after Trump threatened to block Bombardier from the U.S. market.
Trump specifically cited Marshall’s involvement when he told local television Monday that his administration would “take care of Bombardier.”
Bombardier employs about 3,500 people across the United States, with more than 40 per cent of those jobs in Wichita. The company last week announced a US$50-million investment in Wichita, home to its U.S. and defence headquarters.
“We’re going to find a deal with the United States at some point that’s in the interest of the entire Canadian economy,” said Leblanc.
