Can Trump decertify aircraft? What experts say amid Bombardier threat

U.S. President Donald Trump’s global trade war has a new target: Canada’s aviation sector — specifically Bombardier jets.

Late Thursday, Trump posted on his social media platform that he plans to impose a 50 per cent tariff on all Canadian-made aircraft sold to the U.S. and “decertify” some Bombardier planes unless Canada’s aviation authority, Transport Canada, certifies several business jets made by Gulfstream, a U.S. company and direct competitor to Bombardier.

“Based on the fact that Canada has wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly refused to certify the Gulfstream 500, 600, 700, and 800 Jets, one of the greatest, most technologically advanced airplanes ever made, we are hereby decertifying their Bombardier Global Expresses, and all Aircraft made in Canada, until such time as Gulfstream, a Great American Company, is fully certified, as it should have been many years ago,” Trump wrote.

“Further, Canada is effectively prohibiting the sale of Gulfstream products in Canada through this very same certification process. If, for any reason, this situation is not immediately corrected, I am going to charge Canada a 50 per cent Tariff on any and all Aircraft sold into the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

If an aircraft is decertified, that means it is not approved to fly within any control airspace monitored by the local authority. The White House told Global News on background that the threats would only apply to new planes and not existing planes.

But can the president actually decide on certification and decertification of aircraft, which are normally handled through independent authorities at the Federal Aviation Administration?

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“Him stating he’s going to decertify all Bombardier or Canadian aircraft in the U.S., I mean, that’s just ridiculous. The FAA don’t decertify airplanes unless there is an extremely high-risk flight safety issue,” says Nigel Waterhouse, an aircraft certification expert at Can-Am Aerospace.

“The only time I actually know of that ever happening is with the Robinson Helicopter, where there was a whole bunch of accidents with the R-22 and the FAA actually suspended the type certificate for the aircraft until Robinson introduced some new training practices to prevent this from happening.”