WASHINGTON/MONTREAL -- U.S. President Donald Trump has dropped threats against Canadian jet maker Bombardier to ban it from the U.S. market and instead vowed to take “good care” of the company’s workers in Kansas. Trump’s threats in September against Bombardier became a political issue in Kansas, where it employs 1,500 workers in Wichita. The threatened ban prompted calls to the White House from Kansas lawmakers including Republican Senator Roger Marshall, who is facing a tough re-election bid. “We’re going to take care of Bombardier,” Trump told 12 News in Kansas, citing Marshall’s involvement. At a speech Monday, Trump said he would help Bombardier. “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.” Bombardier’s shares rose four per cent Tuesday after Trump’s comments. The White House declined to comment and referred questions to Trump’s TV interview. Bombardier, which in 1990 acquired Learjet and established its U.S. headquarters in Kansas, has 3,500 jobs in the U.S., more than 40 per cent of which are in Wichita. Bombardier recently announced a North American Learning Center in Kansas and has said it workforce in the state is growing. Last week, it announced a US$50 million investment in Wichita, where it has its defense headquarters, and also plans to open a facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Last month, the Trump administration banned a broad swath of Canadian alcoholic beverages, motorcycles and dairy products from import, effective September 29, but took no action against Bombardier. The action came after Canada’s own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods took effect in early September. Those were prompted after Washington imposed tariffs on some $20 billion of Canadian goods in August, after several rounds of negotiations collapsed. Reuters reported last month it was not immediately clear how Trump could bar Bombardier private jets from being delivered to American customers since they have been approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Threats by Trump in February to decertify Bombardier aircraft over a certification spat involving U.S. rival Gulfstream Aerospace never materialized, with regulator Transport Canada eventually approving the American-made jets. By David Shepardson and Allison Lampert (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Spicer)
