Washington: US workers at Canadian aircraft maker Bombardier fear for their jobs after President Donald Trump threatened to ban the company’s aircraft, highlighting the domestic risks from his widening trade dispute with Canada.
The Washington Post reported that concern has spread among Bombardier employees in Wichita, Kansas, where the company employs about 1,500 people.
“This is ridiculous,” one employee told the newspaper. “We have thousands of Americans working here, and I don’t want to be thinking about losing my job.”
Trump threatened the action last week in a social media post. He described Bombardier products as not “good enough” and called for more manufacturing to be moved to the United States.
“If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank,’” Trump wrote.
The president has taken no formal steps to impose the threatened restrictions. The White House has also not explained what a ban would cover or which Bombardier operations it wants transferred to the US.
Bombardier employs another 2,000 people across the country. It operates service centres in Arizona, Texas, Florida and Connecticut. The company makes aircraft wings in Texas and flight-control components in California. It is also planning a new service centre in Indiana.
Final assembly of its business jets takes place in Canada.
“I’m scared about what this might mean for my job and my family,” a longtime Bombardier engineer in Wichita told The Washington Post.
“It’s tough to look at many other Americans working here who are also struggling and got caught up in this global mess,” the engineer said.
Bombardier highlighted its US operations in a public statement. A company spokesperson said there were no changes to its operations “at this time.”
The threat has caused unease in Wichita, a major American aviation manufacturing centre that calls itself the “Air Capital of the World.”
Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell, a Republican, warned that a ban would “be devastating to Bombardier” and represent a “huge loss” for the region.
“It’s rare that I go against the president in my comments,” Howell said. “But no, he’s not perfect. And I think that this is one of those things where I’m just shocked that he wanted to wade into this, because I don’t think it’s helping.”
Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas has contacted the White House and urged Bombardier to expand its Wichita workforce to more than 3,000.
“America buys more than half of what Bombardier sells. If that’s the market, more of those planes should be built here,” Marshall said.
Bombardier acquired the Learjet brand in 1990 and maintained its production base in Wichita until ending Learjet manufacturing there in 2022. Its remaining Kansas operations include aircraft maintenance, testing and engineering work.
US and Canadian aviation supply chains are closely connected, with aircraft and components often crossing the border during production. Trump made a similar threat in January to revoke certifications for some Bombardier jets and impose a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian aircraft, but did not implement it.
(IANS)
