Bombardier to Hire 500 in U.S. Expansion; Trump Pressures Canadian Manufacturing with Market Access

Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier is expanding its operations in the United States, only to face public threats from U.S. President Trump. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump said that if Bombardier wants access to the U.S. market, it must produce in the United States, and demanded that it "stop treating America like a piggy bank."

According to Al Jazeera, Bombardier said in a statement submitted to the outlet that the company is "actively recruiting for 500 open positions" in the United States, which include net new jobs as well as replacements for retirements and normal turnover; the company operates active service centers in five states, with wings produced in Texas and flight control components produced in California; it spends $2.5 billion annually with U.S. suppliers. A new service center in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is scheduled to open in mid-November.

Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous White House officials, that the Trump administration is preparing "options and actions" targeting Bombardier. This posture comes on the heels of the White House's August 22 imposition of a 50% tariff on Canadian goods; Canada implemented retaliatory tariffs on Tuesday covering approximately $20 billion worth of U.S. products.

Targeting a company that is expanding its U.S. workforce exposes the instrumental logic of the tariff war—the United States is using market access as leverage to pressure cross-border manufacturing. But two Republican senators from Kansas, where Bombardier's U.S. headquarters is located—Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall—publicly pushed back. On Monday, Moran wrote on X that he would "continue working to ensure Bombardier's manufacturing operations not only remain in Kansas but continue to expand and create American jobs." Marshall said on Tuesday that he had expressed to the Trump administration his concerns about the potential impact on jobs in his state.

The specific contents of the White House's so-called "options and actions" have so far been described only in vague terms by anonymous officials and have not been made public. On one side, market access is being used to coerce cross-border manufacturing that is already deeply rooted in the United States; on the other, Bombardier already employs 3,500 American workers and contributes $2.5 billion in purchases to U.S. suppliers—the misalignment between the instrumentalization of the trade war and industrial realities is manifesting itself at the cost of ordinary workers' jobs in both countries.