Canada’s aviation authority has issued certificates for a few Gulfstream jet models in the country, Bloomberg reported. This comes after United States President Donald Trump threatened 50% tariffs and said he would de-certify all planes made by the northern neighbor.
Gulfstream did not immediately respond to a request for comment, it added.
The jets are manufactured by Gulfstream Aerospace, a subsidiary of US company General Dynamics Corporation.
What has changed for Gulfstream jets in Canada?
The aviation regulator in Canada has issued ‘Type Certificates’ for the Gulfstream GVII-G500 and GVII-G600 jets on 15 February, Bloomberg reported citing documents published by Transport Canada, the country’s transport department.
There was no indication yet on certificates for the G700 and G800 on the official Transport Canada website, it added.
The office of Canada’s Minister of Transport confirmed that the G500 and G600 had been certified and said Canada was still discussing the G700 and G800 with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the report said.
US-Canada trade tensions: What happened?
On January 30, Trump in a post on Truth Social, claimed that Canada “wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly refused” to certify the Gulfstream G500, G600, G700 and G800 models, and threatened to decertify all planes from the country and impose a 50% tariff on all Canadian-made planes if a reversal did not come soon.
Among the Canadian-made planes included in Trump’s threats were some aircraft by Montreal-based Bombardier Inc., for whom the US is its biggest market.
- The company’s CRJ line of regional jets is widely used by US carriers, including American Airlines (200 CRJ aircraft in fleet in 2025) and Delta Air Lines (over 150 CRJs till 2024-end), as per a previous Bloomberg report.
- Over half of Bombardier’s global fleet of over 5,200 aircraft is operated in the US.
- In 2024, 64% of Bombardier’s sales came from the US, compared to 3% domestically.
- Further, more than half of the costs for Bombardier’s Global 7500 jet are tied to US manufacturing — wings are made in Texas, avionics in Iowa, and motors in Indiana, but the assembly and finishing are done in Canada.
The day after Trump’s post, Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly said the certification process for Gulfstream’s jets was “well underway” and that the approval process for aircraft “is something we don’t politicize.”
Sticking points: China, ‘Governor’ Carney remark, Greenland
Notably, on January 24 too, Trump threatened to impose 100% additional tariffs in response to Canada’s potential trade deals with China and called Prime Minister Mark Carney, “governor”. Notably, Trump has repeatedly (jokingly and otherwise) referred to the Canadian prime ministers — both Carney and his predecessor Justin Trudeau — as “Governors”, implying that Canada could become the 51st state of the USA. There has been pushback on the narrative from the Canadian government.
In response, Carney, in a video post on X the next day, urged citizens to “Buy Canadian”, adding that Canada will “focus on what we can control”. He stated: “With our economy under threat from abroad, Canadians have made a choice: ‘To focus on what we can control’. You are choosing to put your hard-earned dollars behind Canadian businesses and Canadian workers. Canada’s new government is doing the same — with our new ‘Buy Canadian’ policy.”
In December last year too, Trump lashed out at Canada for opposing his so-called ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system over Greenland.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
